Githongo changes tune on ‘hacking logs’
Former Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo sought to clarify that the logs presented to the court on aspects of the alleged hacking of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) system were illustrations of how the server could be accessed and manipulated.
Unauthorised parties
Githongo explained that he has since learnt that the logs he was given by a whistleblower who claimed to have been part of 56 hackers were merely to demonstrate how IEBC servers can be accessed and manipulated externally by unauthorised parties. “The same are screen grabs commonly known as screenshots and are not actual logs but screenshots,” Githongo claims.
He exonerated Azimio-One Kenya presidenttial candidate Raila Odinga from the mess, saying: “It is not true that the petitioner (Raila) has falsified logs. The logs annexed to my affidavit filed in court on August 21, 2022 are the exact logs that were given to me by the young man referred in my affidavit therein and therefore the logs did not originate from myself or the Azimio coalition leader Raila Odinga but from the said aforesaid young man. One cannot falsely something that has been availed to them by someone else,” Githongo states in his court papers.“I reiterate and stand by all the contents of my affidavit dated August 21 save for the clarification that the logs inadvertently produced therein were screenshots to be used as a demonstration and not the actual logs,” he said.
The new developments came two days after President-Elect William Ruto’s aides Dennis Itumbi and Davis Chirchir filed affidavits denying allegations by Githongo that they together with their team were involved in accessing, entering or manipulating the electoral commission entries.
Itumbi on his side described Githongo’s claims as a mere fabrication that is full of imagination to discredit the final presidential results. “Githongo’s narration and whistleblower account is a fantasy and fictional story with shadowy imagined characters and locations,” Itumbi stated.
“At paragraph nine of his affidavit, Githongo provides a hearsay account of a supposed team of 56 people based in Karen with 10 supervisors who could access, enter and manipulate IEBC entries,” he said.
Manipulate forms
Itumbi stated that contrary to Githongo’s affidavit, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance had no tallying centre in Karen and did not hire any computer scientists for any role.
Githongo had claimed that Itumbi was part of a well coordinated group in UDA that ran a parallel tallying centre in Karen with the sole purpose of rigging the polls.
In a detailed affidavit, Githongo said that the whistleblower told him that he was part of 56 people dubbed ‘The Team’ and had been recruited to allegedly infiltrate the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) systems.
Githongo stated that the team had 10 supervisors who guided and directed the other 46 individuals recruited to access and manipulate forms 34As.
He accused some IEBC officials led by chairperson Wafula Chebukati of working closely with the said supervisors in changing the number of votes in favour of Ruto.
At the same time, Ruto through lawyer Kithure Kindiki filed an application before the apex court seeking to have the affidavits by Githongo to be struck out as the same makes averments which are founded on hearsay and hence inadmissible.
“The averments made in the aforesaid affidavits are scandalous and they depone on disputes issues or facts which cannot be ascertained and hence they may lead to miscarriage of justice and a waste of judicial time,” says Ruto.
