In what he consider flagrant disregard of court orders, Senior Counsel Philip Murgor, one of the lawyers representing Raila Odinga and Martha Karua in the ongoing presidential election petition, has once again raised concern on the order issued by the apex court directing Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to provide supervised access of its servers.
According to the petitioners’ lawyers, IEBC allowed access to server number five only and not all the eight servers together with their log-ins as ordered by the court.
“IEBC continue to refuse to provide forensic image of all eight servers,” Senior Counsel Philip Murgor told the court this morning.
However, in a quick rebuttal, IEBC lawyers reiterated that the exercise was successful and that the petitioners’ lawyers were indeed allowed access to the servers as per the orders of the court.
Eric Gumbo, one the lawyers representing IEBC, told the court that the petitioners’ lawyers misconstrued the court order to mean that they would be allowed full access to the IEBC servers; something he considers would be akin to “taking away” the servers from the IEBC.
Also Read: Supreme Court Directs IEBC To Allow Raila Access To Election Results Servers
The court has supported the IEBC account. “As far as this court is concerned, according to the report we received from our team, the order was complied with and the process was completed last night,” Justice Issack Lenaola told the court.
According to former Chief Justice David Maraga, the 2017 presidential election was nullified mainly because IEBC failed to comply with the court order on the question of scrutiny. At that time, IEBC argued that its servers were based in France and was unable to access them because the handlers were asleep.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue its verdict on the third presidential election petition since its establishment under the 2010 Constitution on Monday, September 5, 2022