IEBC official testifies in favour of Oduol

William Oduol presenting his case to the Siaya County Returning Officer after he rejected results from Bondo, Rarieda and Gem Constituencies on March 6, 2013. Photo/WILLIAM OERI NATION MEDIA GROUP By ELVIS ONDIEKI A presiding officer in the March 4 poll on Monday testified against her employer, the electoral commission, in an election petition. Read (Ballot box seals ‘were broken’) Ms Mary Agunda, who was in charge of the election at Boro Primary School, testified in favour of petitioner William Oduol, who is challenging the election of Mr Cornel Rasanga as Siaya Governor. Ms Agunda told the court that voter bribery was reported at her station, and that there was unusual voter behaviour afterwards. “At around 11am on March 4, an agent for Mr Oduol’s party received a call while in the polling room. She was told that something was amiss outside. I sent her there accompanied by a police officer where they found a man dishing out money to people,” she told Mr Justice Aggrey Muchelule. She said the man, identified as Mr Gelfas Obado, was arrested and upon a police search he was found with Sh4,000 cash. After that incident, she said, voters who came into the polling station exhibited suspicious character. “Several voters who came into the centre about an hour after the bribery incident were asking to be assisted to vote. Not only that, they insisted that they wanted to vote ‘six piece,’” she told the court. However, lawyer Patrick Otieno for Mr Rasanga took issue with Ms Agunda’s testimony. He argued that it was tantamount to disclosing how people had voted, which is in breach of oath of secrecy. Judge Muchelule allowed her to testify and urged Mr Otieno to respond to the issue in his submissions. Ms Agunda was, however, at pains to explain whether the polls team had given her official permission to testify against it. Lawyer Stephen Koppot, for Mr Rasanga, asked her to explain whether the commission had given her written permission to testify against it. She responded that she had notified IEBC via SMS. Mr Oduol wants the court to nullify Mr Rasanga’s election, citing several malpractices among them undue influence from the ODM leadership. He accuses politicians in Siaya of waging a propaganda war against him and glorifying a six-piece voting pattern. The hearing continues.