Petition witnesses at pain to prove Wajir voters not identified in Kiems kit
Witnesses for petitioners in the Wajir gubernatorial election were at pains to demonstrate to an election court that some voters who cast their ballots during the August 9 General Elections were not identified using the Kenya Integrated Management System (KIEMS) kits.
The move came after Ibrahim Muhamud Abdirahman, one of the key witnesses for the petitioner, Hassan Mohamed told the election court that majority of voters who cast their ballot for all the six elective positions were not identified by the KIEMS kits in Governor Ahmed Abdullahi’s perceived strongholds.
Abdirahman could however not point out specific polling stations where the kits failed despite making a claim the two wards of Arbajahan and Hadado in Wajir West where the governor, who is the first respondent got significant votes saw voters use alternative voting systems other than KIEMS kits.
During cross-examination, Abdirahman conceded despite verbally listing Arbajahan and Hadado wards as areas where voters may have been compromised, he did not file an affidavit to support his claims.
“You concede in your affidavit that the elections you participated in as a senatorial candidate were not free and fair, why did you not file a petition to challenge the elections for the position of senator,” posed Omwanza Ombati, who is representing the governor.
“I did not deem it fit to file a petition against the senator-elect,” he answered.
Omwanza; “You confirm that you voted in Kalikacha polling station, do you have a complaint in that polling station?”
Abdirahman: “Yes I have because I was called by an agent that they used KIEMS kits in the morning but resorted to manual in the afternoon, but this complaint is not in my affidavit.”
