IEBC Officials Admit Using Ghost Polling Station To Declare Governor Winner

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials admitted they used a ghost polling station and wrong votes to declare results for the Homa Bay governor race.

Speaking at the Homa Bay High Court, Rangwe IEBC returning officer Ezekiel Juma and his Suba South counterpart Shauline Miguran on Wednesday admitted that there were errors in the August 8 results.

Juma also noted that they discovered discrepancies in the results for the gubernatorial and presidential candidates at Nyakwadha polling station.

He further remarked that the votes for the top two candidates Governor Cyprian Awiti and former Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga were confused with those of the presidential candidates.

[caption caption="Former Homa Bay governor hopeful Oyugi Magwanga (second left) and his lawyers at the High Court"][/caption]

Miguran admitted that there was a ghost polling station in his constituency, which he identified as Sindo Main Beach Banda.

He further acknowledged that he came to realise that they used the polling station to declare the final results for the gubernatorial race.

"The existence of the polling station skipped us during tallying and we came to realise about it in the petition," Miguran stated.

Additionally, in the ghost polling station, Awiti had only two votes while his competitor Magwanga had 122 votes.

Governor Awiti’s lead lawyer Tom Ojienda argued that the polling station would only be a disadvantage to Magwanga.

[caption caption="Homa Bay governor Cyprian Awiti takes an oath of office for his second term"][/caption]

In the petition, Magwanga and his running mate Joshua Orero are challenging the re-election of governor Awiti and his deputy Hamilton Orata.