An IEBC representative gave a deposition in court accusing his employer.

An IEBC representative gave a deposition in court accusing his employer.

An Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) official from the August 9 polls testified against the body in Dr. Evans Kidero’s Homa Bay gubernatorial election petition.

Dan Ojijo, the Presiding Officer at Ongeti Primary School polling station in Kochia ward, testified in court against his employer, claiming that the election was not free and fair at that location.

Ojijo was the first witness to testify before Justice Roselyne Aburili at Homa Bay High Court on Thursday in connection with Dr. Kidero’s challenge to Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga’s election victory.

According to the election results, Wanga of the ODM party won with 244,559 votes over Dr Kidero’s 154,182 votes.

The witness disputed with the IEBC on election transparency at the Ongeti polling station, where Kidero received 115 votes and Wanga received 235.

He claimed that armed teenagers compelled him to change the results in favor of Wanga.

“Immediately after the votes were counted, a group of noisy adolescents arrived and turned off the lights.” “They threatened me with a gun and compelled me to record the outcomes of their experiments,” Ojijo explained.

The presiding officer said that he couldn’t go against the hooligans’ orders because he was under duress and feared for his life.

“I reported the matter to Rangwe Police Station, and I stand by my statement that the election was not fair at the Ongeti primary polling station,” Ojijo said.

Lawyers Charles Kanjama, Raymond Olendo, and Godrick Okello represented Wanga, the IEBC, and the ODM party, respectively, at the hearing.

Kanjama questioned the witness, claiming that he was contradicting himself in the evidence because there was an affidavit he had sworn showing that the votes were counted calmly.

“You said in your affidavit that the vote counting was quiet, yet you now speak of violence in which you were threatened with a gun.” “Are you attempting to deceive this court?” Kanjama inquired.

The lawyer associated Ojijo with personal enmity for his client, citing a tweet by the latter, who denied having an account on the platform.

“There is a twitter handle associated with the witness that says, ‘Wanga should not be charged.'”

On the same issue, Olendo stated that Ojijo violated his oath by testifying against his employer, IEBC, because he had been hired as a presiding officer in the previous elections and had previously sworn an oath not to do so.

He added that Ojijo did not present any evidence in his affidavit that the election results at that specific polling place had been changed.

Olendo stated, “You are talking about manipulated election results, but there is no paper in your affidavit to show that.

Deputy Governor Oyugi Magwanga, Kidero, and Elijah Kodo, his running companion for governor, were all present throughout the hearing.