Supreme Court to rule on marked voter registers

By Wahome Thuku

Nairobi, Kenya: A local NGO, Africa Centre for Open Governance (AFRICOG) wants the Supreme Court to order the electoral commission to produce the manual marked registers used in the presidential polls on March 4.

Africog through lawyer Kethi Kilonzo claimed that there were discrepancies in the number of registered voters.

“The number of registered voters in 180 constituencies differs in what is contained in Form 36, there is a difference of 70,000 voters,” she told the court.

She said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should produce the marked registers so as to verify the discrepancies.

Kilonzo said the marked registers should also be in custody of the court.

Kilonzo is representing Africog who are one of the petitioners who are challenging the election of Uhuru Kenyatta. Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also filed a petition.

But her application was opposed by other lawyers who termed it as late.

Lawyer Kamau Karuri representing IEBC said the request to produce the register was late and unreasonable.

He said the registers were in constituencies and it would take between 10 days to a week to get them.

The Supreme Court judges led by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga will deliver the ruling at 3pm.