Karua's claim of 'lost' evidence in election petition dismissed

The High Court in Kerugoya has directed the court's deputy registrar to produce the judiciary staff who received Martha Karua's petition against election of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, after a piece of evidence was purportedly lost from the case file.

Judge Lucy Gitari said the staff should explain how Ms Karua's flash disc containing video evidence on voter bribery got lost from the file.

But Kerugoya High Court official Jackson Kibiro denied having received the flash disk as part of the evidence list.

Also, Governor Waiguru's lawyer Paul Nyamodi denied being served with the same and went further to ask Ms Karua to produce an affidavit backing her claim.

FLASH DISC 'LOST'

The judge made the orders after Ms Karua questioned how the evidence could have gotten lost within the court.

"There is a wide conspiracy. Court has a duty to get to the bottom of the matter. It is incumbent upon this court to exhaust its own internal inquiry. Bring the person who wrote the receipt to explain," said Ms Karua.

She said she handed the petition and the evidence to judicial officers on September 6, 2017.

Ms Karua faulted lawyers representing Governor Waiguru and the electoral agency for opining that she should make formal application to adduce the video evidence.

"We are operating on timelines. The aim is to delay prosecution of the case, buying time and abusing court process," her lawyer Gitobu Imanyara said.

WITNESSES

The lawyer also complained about interference with witnesses in the petition.

"There has been a number of interferences of petitioner witnesses. One witness has withdrawn. Another witness by the name Mercy Kangi was called via phone by a person identified as Kamwaki," Mr Imanyara said.

"There are attempts to interfere with witnesses and should be stopped," he added.

Justice Gitari termed the matter serious saying a complainant should be filed against the mobile number used to call witness Kangi.

During the proceedings of the petition, the Independent  Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) lawyer Joe Kathungu put Ms Karua to task to explain her claims that the Kirinyaga governorship election was 'riddled by illegalities and irregularities'.

POLLING STATIONS

The lawyer questioned why Ms Karua failed to indicate in the petition that her agents were denied access to one of the election statutory forms.

IEBC also denied blocking the agents from entering polling stations.

Lawyer Kathungu said only the agents who had requisite documents were allowed in.

But the Narc-Kenya leader maintained that agents of other candidates were allowed in as early as 4am while hers were locked out up to 9am, others 10am and 11am.

BALLOT STUFFING

Hence, she said her agents cannot tell whether there was ballot stuffing because they were not at the polling stations in the crucial hours.

The electoral agency questioned why she is seeking nullification of Governor Waiguru's win instead of declaration that she was the winner of the poll. This came up after Ms Karua said the governor's votes were inflated by 48,000 votes.

Ms Karua said her agents were barred in a third of the polling stations.

"I was the winner. What the fourth respondent got is minus 48,000 votes. I asked for a scrutiny from IEBC but I was denied," she said.

FRAUD

Mr Kathungu further denied that governor Waiguru's votes were inflated.

The court heard that in most of the polling stations where Ms Karua complained that her agents were denied access, she got more votes compared to governor Waiguru.

"The exercise was fraud and results were fraudulent. IEBC destroyed the records by reconfigured the Kiems kits. Inflation of votes was widespread," Ms Karua

maintained.

She stated that there was conspiracy between the respondents -IEBC, County Returning officer Seki Lempaka, deputy governor Peter Ndambiri and Governor Anne Waiguru.

According to IEBC results, Ms Waiguru garnered 161,343 votes and Ms Karua got 122,091 votes, a difference of 39,252 votes. There was some drama when Ms Karua cautioned IEBC's lawyer against referring to Ms Waiguru as the winner of the poll.

The hearing of the case continues.