On Tuesday, August 30, the Supreme Court ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to grant Raila Odinga access to its servers.
The court also ordered IEBC to provide copies of its technology system security policy, which included its password policy, password matrix, and system administration password owners.
Supreme Court president Martha Koome further ordered the recount and scrutiny of presidential ballot boxes in 14 polling stations within 48 hours.
The electoral agency on Wednesday, August 31, brought ballot boxes to the listed polling stations for recount and scrutinization.
However, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party captain Raila Odinga’s lawyer James Orengo told the seven judges that the IEBC had denied granting access to the former Prime Minister as ordered by the Supreme Court.
“We are also having difficulties with orders relating to inspection of the servers. We have been given restricted access only to the results transmission system. Access has been given only to one server, which has not been granted yet,” Senior Counsel James Orengo told the court.
Orengo told the seven-member bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome that they had written to the Judiciary registrar Anne Amadi over the issue and prayed that the court intervene.
“We have written to the registration so that the court can resolve this,” he said.
It was widely reported that the electoral agency’s headquarters cited a lack of authorization despite an active court order from the apex court.
IEBC was also directed to avail partnership agreements with its technical partners, list of users, trail, and admin access to provide clarity on the IEBC systems and their usage for review and verification.
The apex court further compelled the electoral agency to provide certified copies of Forms 32A and 34C used in the contested presidential elections.
In a rejoinder, IEBC in a statement said it had finally granted access to Raila to access the servers and that the exercise is ongoing.
“Following the Supreme Court order, IEBC has granted access to the parties to access the servers and the scrutiny exercise is ongoing,” the commission.
