Raila finally granted access to all IEBC servers after standoff
The electoral agency finally granted Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga access to its servers on Wednesday, coming after his lawyer James Orengo alleged that it had blocked the presidential candidate from doing so despite a court order.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to give Mr Odinga access to all election servers and ballot boxes from 15 polling stations for inspection, scrutiny and recount of votes. However, a standoff arose today that saw Mr Odinga’s team blocked from accessing the servers. Inspection of ballot boxes, however, went on without a hitch.
“Members of the court, we are having difficulties with the orders relating to the inspection of the servers. We have been given restricted access only to the results transmission system. It is established that IEBC has eight servers yet we have access to one only,” Mr Orengo said in court today.
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IEBC, through its official social media handle, confirmed later on that it had granted Mr Odinga access.
The petitioners that were to be given access to the servers include Mr Odinga’s running mate Martha Karua, Youth Advocacy for Africa (YAA), Mr Peter Kirika, Mr Khelef Khalifa, Mr George Osewe, Ms Ruth Mumbi and Ms Grace Kamau.
The court orders stemmed from their allegations that IEBC’s election technology was deliberately compromised by non-commission staff.
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“The information sought is critical to demonstrate that IEBC did not conduct a free, fair, secure, verifiable, accountable and transparent presidential election,” they had told the court.
In court today, Mr Orengo, who is also the Siaya Governor, and Philip Murgor argued that there was evidence of remote access to the IEBC system three days after the voting process ended.
“There was illegal and malicious access of the IEBC system by certain individuals, one of whom was Mr Chebukati’s personal assistant,” Mr Murgor said.
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“The technology deployed by IEBC completely failed the standards of security and transparency. It was manipulated and tainted to the point that the results declared by Mr Chebukati cannot be said to be a demonstration of the true will of the people,” he added.
“There was evidence of remote access to the IEBC system three days after the voting process ended. Transmission of numerous forms from a single server contrary to the expectation that the forms would come from several Kiems kits.”
Additional reporting by Brian Wasuna