Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition wants the Supreme Court to declare Wafula Chebukati, the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), unfit to hold public office.
In submissions made in court on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, Raila Odinga's lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee told a seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, that Chebukati should be held responsible for 'subverting the will of the people'.
The Senior Counsel faulted the IEBC boss for allegedly failing to involve all the commissioners in key decisions of the electoral body including final tallying and postponement of eight elections in 'Azimio strongholds'.
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Nowrojee, a veteran lawyer still practising at the age of 82, claimed the chairman repeated illegalities flagged by the Supreme Court in 2017.
He said Chebukati had gone ahead to lie in the affidavits filed in court regarding the disputed poll in which Raila's main rival William Ruto was declared President-elect.
''Chebukati lied about the Elections Act giving him the power to postpone elections as a result of procurement issues such as errors in the printing of ballot papers.
"How is it that every 5 years under the chairmanship of this officer there is a crisis? The decision to postpone the gubernatorial election in Mombasa and Kakamega, was it a decision made by the commission, or a personal decision made by Mr. Chebukati?" the lawyer posed.
"This is not a mistake but a very calculated subversion of thoughts by Mr. Chebukati which he does not explain," he added.
Nowrojee argued that the Supreme Court should hold the chairperson responsible for contravening election laws.
"This man (Chebukati) has done the same things across two elections… He is destroying our democratic institutions...Whatever the outcome of this petition, we cannot have a self-discredited person who is giving false affidavits to be the chairperson of IEBC or anything at all," Nowrojee stated.
Earlier, the Azimio legal team led by Senior Counsel James Orengo said the results of the presidential poll were manipulated in favour of Ruto.
Raila and Karua have sought over 20 reliefs, among them nullification of the results announced by Chebukati. They also want IEBC to be directed to tally and verify the results and declare the two of them as President and Deputy President-elect.
The coalition has also attached affidavits by former Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo alleging that rogue techies were granted access to IEBC systems and manipulated form 34As from the polling stations. His sworn testimony claims this was done to favour Ruto.
