I stand by affidavit, says Githongo as he walks back on logs

Activist John Githongo

Activist John Githongo in an affidavit tells of a young man who claimed he was part of a 56-member team of hackers employed by Mr Dennis Itumbi to manipulate forms 34A.

Photo credit: Pool I Nation Media Group

Activist John Githongo has denied claims that he falsified the logs showing how the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) server could have been easily hacked during the August 9 General Election as he stated in his earlier affidavit to the Supreme Court last week.

The anti-graft czar has issued a clarification stating that the logs he filed earlier were demos, rather than actual logs of alleged breaches on IEBC's servers. 

In a further affidavit filed at the court dated August 28, Mr Githongo denied accusations made in the replying affidavits of President-Elect William Ruto that accused him of presenting falsified logs to the Supreme Court.

“It is not true that the petitioner has falsified logs. The logs annexed to my affidavit dated August 21, 2022, are the exact logs that were given to me by the young man referred to in my affidavit therein and therefore the logs did not originate from myself or petitioner but from the aforesaid young man,” Mr Githongo clarified.

He further explained that the logs shown to him by the young man were meant to be a demo on how the IEBC server can be accessed and manipulated by external unauthorised parties.

“The same are screen grabs, commonly known as screenshots and are not actual logs and the affidavit of Benson Wesonga date August 21, 2022 clearly indicates that the said logs are screenshots and not actual logs,” he said.

(Read Githongo's first affidavit here John Githongo affidavit download, and the updated one filed in court here Githongo's 2nd affidavit)

The activist said IEBC Commissioner Justus Nyangaya’s affidavit corroborated the information given to him by the young man since the actual annexed logs by the commissioner were exactly similar to those he was shown by his source on camera and he was willing to share the same if called upon to.

“I have been actually furnished with the actual logs and forwarded them to our information technology expert, Benson Wesonga, who has studied the same and generated a brief analysis on the same,” Mr Githongo said.

To dispel rumours that he has changed his stance on his earlier affidavit, the activist reiterated that he stood by it and pointed out that the only difference was his clarification that the logs provided in the affidavit were screenshots to be used as a demonstration and not the actual logs.

“As per paragraph 92, 93 and 94 of the petitions, the contents of my affidavit dated August 21, 2022 are further evidence of alteration of forms 34A which the ninth respondent (Dr Ruto) has completely ignored and/or failed to respond to,” he said.

Shock waves

This clarification by Githongo comes a week after he sent shock waves in the country when he filed his affidavit in which he tells of a young man who claimed he was part of a 56-member team of hackers employed to manipulate the forms 34A submitted in the IEBC server via the Kiems kit in a manner that favoured Dr Ruto.

The young man also claimed that the team was housed in Karen to do the job and that most of those involved in the illegal work are currently out of the country.

Download a copy of Raila's Supreme Court petitionRaila Odinga petition download