Raila petition against Uhuru in court Friday

By LORDRICK MAYABI | March 14, 2013

Cabinet Minister Mutula Kilonzo said that the legal team that has been working on the petition was set to conclude the drafting on Thursday evening and expressed confidence in winning the case/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14 – The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) will now put to rest the anxiety surrounding its intent to challenge Uhuru Kenyatta’s election as president, when it finally files the petition on Friday.

Cabinet Minister Mutula Kilonzo said that the legal team that has been working on the petition was set to conclude the drafting on Thursday evening and expressed confidence in winning the case.

According to Kilonzo, the particulars in the petition will “shock Kenyans” when they learn the extent of the anomalies that marred the election.

“We thank hundreds of very brave Kenyans from across the country who have come forward to provide us with the information on the anomalies in the presidential election,” Kilonzo, the Makueni Senator-elect said adding: “Ukiona wao waambie tutawashinda (if you see them tell them we will win).”

Kilonzo who addressed the briefing together with James Orengo (Siaya Senator-elect) and former Attorney General Amos Wako (Busia Senator-elect) however maintained that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was still frustrating efforts to obtain information as agreed in court on Wednesday.

Among documents yet to be provided by the IEBC is the final voter register that was used in last Monday’s election which CORD claims to have various alterations.

“Non-compliance by the IEBC is a violation of the Constitution which gives the citizens rights to information. We are looking for those documents because we are entitled to them and not because it is an exercise in which we are groping in the dark. I have a feeling that this is the most opaque electoral commission in the history of Kenya,” said Orengo equating accessing IEBC chairman Issack Hassan to accessing a general in a military camp.

“These frustrations in law only contribute to the challenge we are making about the election. When a person who is required to be transparent starts frustrating you there is an assumption in law that there is something they are hiding,” added Kilonzo.

IEBC had on Wednesday agreed to provide all the documents CORD was seeking but Orengo insisted that the ‘trickle’ manner in which they were receiving the documents was a calculated step by the commission to ensure that they get the documents late.

CORD has warned the Kenyan Civil Service to tread with caution as regards the handling of the Jubilee Coalition who were announced winners by the IEBC in the just concluded elections.

Former Attorney General Amos Wako, who is part of the CORD legal team petitioning the results at the Supreme Court said unlike the previous constitution which allowed swearing in after the announcement of results, the new order deliberately delayed the process until the validity of the election is sanctioned by the courts.

“We cannot handle this transition the way we have handled others in the past where a president was sworn in immediately. In the United States a president is sworn in after a month and where there is no dispute on the president-elect; you never see law enforcement agencies and generals going to brief him,” warned Wako.

“Giving security briefings and treasury workings to someone who has yet to take an oath to defend the country’s Constitution is strange and wrong,” insisted Mutula.