Kindiki: Kenyans' will greater than that of the 4 breakaway commissioners

President-elect William Ruto's lawyers have insisted that Kenyans' will, is greater than that of four breakaway Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissioner (IEBC) commissioners.

IEBC vice chairperson Juliana Cherera, Commissioners Justus Nyang'aya, Francis Wanderi, and Irene Masit distanced themselves from the August 9 presidential election results released by the Commission's Chairman Wafula Chebukati on August 15.

They accused him of turning the agency into a one-man-show, claiming Chebukati deliberately subverted the will of Kenyan voters by declaring unverified results.

"We wish to categorically state that from his statement, the chairman Mr Chebukati, appears to have misconstrued his role and that of the Commissioners and further misunderstood the Constitutional and legal mandate to verify results by the Commission to mean what he vaguely characterized as' moderation' of those results," the commissioners said in a statement on August 15.

However, in a rejoinder, Ruto's lawyer Kithure Kindiki, told Supreme Court judges on Friday, September 2, that denying Ruto victory would be subverting Kenyans' sovereign will.

"The question that this court ought to ask itself is whether the walking away of the four commissioners at the tail end of a process which they have admitted was complete except the declaration of the winner amounts to overturning the will of the voter?" he posed.

Hearings of the presidential petition challenging the declaration of William Ruto as President-elect began Tuesday and the verdict is expected to be delivered on Monday, September 5.

During the elections, the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto president-elect after garnering 7,176,141 votes (50.49 per cent) against Raila Odinga's 6,942,930 votes (48.85 per cent).