Chebukati seeks Supreme Court clarification on role

The electoral agency Chairman Wafula Chebukati has gone back to the Supreme Court to seek clarification on his role as regards to verification of results declaration forms.

He argued that while the Court of Appeal had in the Maina Kiai case ruled that what is announced at the polling station is final, the Supreme Court in its landmark ruling that invalidated the August 8 pollindicted him for not verifying the crucial documents.

“Arising from the judgment of this Honourable Court, I am now unclear as to what as the returning officer for the presidential election I am supposed to do in view of the clear prohibition at page 39 of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the Maina Kiai case barring me from “varying, confirming, altering, modifying or adjusting the results,” Mr Chebukati says in an affidavit filed at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) argues that the apex court should ‘complete the lacuna in its direction” that it says will be critical ahead of the fresh poll scheduled for October 26.

“The failure by the 1st Respondent to verify the results in consultation with the 2nd Respondent, before the latter declared them, therefore went against the expectation of Article 138 (3) (c) of the Constitution…we find little or nothing in this decision [Maina Kiai] to suggest that, by deciding the way it did, the appellate court restrained or barred the 1st Respondent from verifying the results before declaring them,” the Supreme Court had said in its 4-2 majority judgment.