By MAUREEN ODIWUOR

SIAYA; KENYA: Broken Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) seals were found outside the Siaya tallying centre at Sawagongo Secondary School, a court was told.?

In a petition filed by Mr Matthews Omondi, chief campaigner for William Oduol, the court heard that he first discovered the broken seals at the tallying centre when he went to pay agents under him.

The green seals were brought as exhibits before the court presided over by Justice Aggrey Muchelule.?

? “I saw a lot of broken seals at the school. They were lying on the ground outside the hall where tallying was taking place,” he said.?

Omondi said he took photos of the seals before putting them together.??He also said he picked other seals at Chianda High School and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University.??

However, the photos were rejected by Justice Muchelule on grounds that Omondi had not supplied copies of the photos to the respondents.?

Omondi also alleged foul play by ODM luminaries in the county during the campaign period, aimed at lessening Oduol’s popularity.?

?He mentioned Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo as having termed Oduol a murderer on a number of rallies.??

“I attended a rally in Bondo one Saturday. In the course of Mr Midiwo’s speech, he told people to be quiet as he had something serious to tell them. That is when he said Mr Oduol was a murderer who had shot his wife,” he told the court.

Fake posters

The witness also testified about fake campaign posters made and distributed by ODM politicians.

Omondi was the second witness in the petition challenging the election of Cornell Rasanga as Siaya Governor.

Lawyer Richard Kwach took issue with a section of a story about the proceedings that appeared in The Standard on Thursday and asked the judge to summon the writer to court to elaborate.?

He claimed youths had been hired to heckle the petitioner outside the court and the media to propagate the falsehood campaign against him that had started in the build-up to the March 4 polls.

Justice Muchelule said he would deliver a ruling on the issue soon.?