Presidential poll petition: Experts, political players file affidavits at top court

John Githongo affidavit supreme court

Former permanent secretary and anti-corruption crusader, John Githongo. 

Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

John Githongo

Mr Githongo, a former anti-corruption czar is the current chief executive of the Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi. He is also a governance expert. In his affidavit supporting the Azimio petition, Mr Githongo alleges that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance hired a group of hackers – a 56-member team – who accessed the IEBC systems and uploaded manipulated Forms 34A. Mr Githongo alleges that the group worked alongside Mr Davis Chirchir and Mr Dennis Itumbi to commit the crimes in favour of President-elect William Ruto. His claims are based on the testimony of a member of the team said to have been hired to hack the system.

Benson Wesonga

Mr Wesonga is an ICT specialist. He has a degree in Information Technology with a bias in security and cryptography. He argues in his affidavit that IEBC granted unauthorised personnel access to its system – an access he says was later used to alter and change genuine forms uploaded into the IEBC public portal. He says that the access raised questions on the security of the IEBC systems, adding that it is through these actions that forms uploaded into the IEBC servers were swapped with doctored ones. His affidavit is based on the claims raised by Mr Githongo.

Nyangasi Oduwo

Dr Oduwo is a medical doctor by profession with a post-graduate diploma in research methods. He also has a masters in economic policy and analysis. He was part of the Azimio team that was tasked with verifying Forms 34A, 34B and 34C at the Bomas of Kenya. He argues in his affidavit that it is true that IEBC had set out to manipulate the election. He says that an analysis of the Forms 34A given to them by IEBC at Bomas, did not tally with those that they received from their agents, meaning that the election was rigged. He accuses IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati of “willfully manipulating the election to achieve a pre-determined outcome”.

Arnold Ochieng' Oginga

Arnold Ochieng Oginga

Mr Arnold Ochieng Oginga, Azimio’s lawyer.

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Mr Oginga is an advocate of the High Court, and a member of the legal team representing the Azimio coalition. Mr Oginga claims in his affidavit that the allegations raised by the Azimio coalition disputing the results of the presidential elections are true. He lists claims such as the discrepancies in the Forms 34A uploaded on the IEBC public portal with those received from agents, failure by the commission to tally results from 27 constituencies, erroneous figures used by IEBC, discrepancies in voter turnout among others as the basis of his affidavit.

Davis Chirchir

David Chirchir

Davis Chirchir,.

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Mr Chirchir is the chief of staff in the office of the deputy president. In his affidavit, the former Energy Cabinet Secretary denies claims that he was part of a group that hacked the IEBC systems and uploaded manipulated Forms 34A.

Mr Chirchir also denies claims of knowing or having worked with the individuals named in an affidavit signed by Mr Githongo who are said to have hacked the IEBC systems. He says that of the alleged hackers, he had only met and worked with Mr Itumbi but denies claims that they hacked the IEBC servers.

Mr Chirchir further alleges that a group of officers also hijacked him on his way from the Bomas of Kenya and confiscated his laptop and mobile phone.

Dennis Itumbi

Dennis Itumbi

Dennis Itumbi. 

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

Mr Itumbi is a blogger who currently heads President-elect William Ruto’s digital team. He says in his affidavit that Kenya Kwanza relied on agents it had dispatched across the country to get Forms 34As from polling stations and tally. This he says is contrary to claims in the Azimio petition that the team hacked into the IEBC systems. Mr Itumbi says that his team enlisted the services of over 46,000 agents who transmitted Forms 34A from to the Kenya Kwanza tallying centre for sampling. He also says that the narrations of hacking, as alleged by Mr Githongo “are accounts of fantasy and fiction”. He says that the only tallying centre that Kenya Kwanza used was at the Hustler Plaza on Ngong road.

Ashif Kassam

Mr Kassam is the executive chairman of RSM Eastern Africa LLP – an audit firm based in Nairobi. He says in his affidavit that the claims by the Azimio petition that Dr William Ruto had failed to garner the 50 per cent plus one votes were unfounded. Mr Kassam argues that an analysis of the figures given by the commission showed that the formula used to arrive at the percentages was correct. He further states that an analysis of alternative figures of votes for the four presidential candidates given by the Azimio team did not tabulate or tally to 100 per cent. He also denies claims that extra votes said to have been cast in favour of the president in some counties favioured Dr Ruto, insisting that the alleged extra votes were too negligible.

Eric Mulei Kitetu

Mr Kitetu is a graduate of the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. He is a data analyst. He argues in his affidavit that screen logs provided by the Azimio team alleging the hacking of the IEBC servers are false. He says that the logs “were mere copy and paste”, adding that an analysis of the logs showed that they had been faked.

Samuel Githae Mumbura

Mr Mumbura is a lawyer and an employee of Uasin Gishu county Woman representative. Mr Mumbura says that the purpose of his affidavit is to support responses filed by Dr William Ruto and to confirm their authenticity, including the annexed evidence and supporting documents.

Veronica Maina Nduati

UDA Secretary-General Veronica Maina

UDA Secretary-General Veronica Maina.

Photo credit: Sila Kipalgat | Nation Media Group

She is the current secretary-general of the UDA party of President-elect Ruto. Ms Maina also served as the deputy chief agent of Dr Ruto at the Bomas of Kenya. In her affidavit, she says that the allegations raised by the Azimio coalition, including those criticising the conduct of IEBC were inaccurate and misleading. She argues that claims by Azimio that the announcement was Mr Wafula Chebukati should have been a unanimous one of the commission was not based on the law.

Raymond Kiprotich Bett

Mr Bett is a graduate of the University of Nairobi and a certified information systems auditor. He also volunteered as the lead IT expert for the UDA and Kenya Kwanza team. He says in his affidavit that his responsibility and that of the team he led, was to build systems that would allow Kenya Kwanza collect and tally all Forms 34A from across the country.

He also denies claims that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance hacked the IEBC systems, insisting that their work was to only collect and tally forms submitted by their agents from across the country. He further says that the alleged IP address provided by Azimio said to have been used to illegally access the IEBC systems, did not belong to the Kenya Kwanza team.