ANNULLED POLLS: Kenya’s chief prosecutor orders probe of electoral commission

An order has been made by Kenya’s chief prosecutor, Keriako Tobiko, for the country’s electoral officials to be investigated for alleged “irregularities and illegalities” in the last August elections which was annulled by the Supreme Court.

Tobiko, the Director of public prosecutions, said wide-ranging investigations must be conducted in the next 21 days, into the August election which saw President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the winner, at the polls which was later annulled after claims of “massive” fraud.

Three days ago, the election board in Kenya was criticised by the Supreme Court which slammed it for not confirming the official results of last month’s presidential election before announcing them.

Read also: Kenya’s presidential re-run may be postponed

The Supreme Court said the election results were rigged and also informed that the board overseeing the 2017 vote did not have all the tally forms when they announced official results, and that some forms lacked security features like water marks, signatures or serial numbers, calling their authenticity into question.

However, the October 17 date set for a re-run of votes for Kenya’s presidential election has been re-scheduled for October 26 after a French IT company that supplied the electronic system used in the nullified election told the country’s election board that its technology would not be ready to use again on the said date of re-run.

In a letter from Paris-based OT-Morpho to Kenya’s election board, dated Sept. 18 and seen by Reuters, the company said the two electronic systems it supplied for the vote would have to be reinstalled for the re-run. “This represents a very significant amount of work, which cannot be secured by October 17,” the letter read.

 

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