ICT guru and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Deputy President, Davis Chirchir, has denied knowing and supervising 56 hackers to infiltrate the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) system.
Responding to a petition filed by whistleblower John Githongo at the Supreme Court, Chirchir maintained that he only knows blogger Dennis Itumbi.
Speaking on Saturday, August 27, Chirchir added that their roles in helping William Ruto clinch the presidency had nothing to do with the IEBC system.
"I do not know any of these listed individuals other than Dennis Itumbi, who I have had interactions with over the years. He and I did not work together in any capacity in relation to the presidential campaign either pre-election, on election date and/or during the tallying process," Chirchir stated.
He further dispelled reports that he worked with Itumbi and other teams of supervisors to oversee the process of manipulating the forms before re-uploading them on the IEBC portal.
He further underscored being actively involved in Ruto's presidential campaign secretariat. According to the ICT guru, Kenya Kwanza had devised a more organised pattern to guard the presidential votes.
Chirchir maintained the polls were conducted transparently and credibly.
"That it is within my knowledge that Ruto had set up the WSR Presidential Campaign Secretariat which was based at an office located on the 2nd floor of Soin Arcade in Westlands. Ruto had engaged personnel to assist him with his campaign," Chirchir explained.
"That while I was not involved in Ruto's presidential campaigns, I am aware that this Campaign Secretariat was used for political, technical, communications and strategy meetings during the course of the campaign. I was not involved in the 9th Respondent's campaigns."
Itumbi - while appearing on NTV on Friday, August 26 - also dismissed Githongo's claims adding that Ruto's secretariat only verified results uploaded on IEBC portal.
Githongo claimed that a team of ten supervisors and 46 other individuals was tasked with accessing, entering and manipulating the data in the IEBC portal.
The human rights defender added that the team was under instructions to maintain the total valid votes cast and hence deduct votes from one presidential contender and add to the other.
"Their task was to receive the Forms 34A from the KIEMS Kits which were sent to their server/platform which he termed as Uchaguzi Tallying. After receiving the said data, they would edit the necessary Forms 34A according to the instructions given to them by their leaders and thereafter upload the said edited Form 34A’s to the IEBC portal.
"The team was indoctrinated on the phrase "freedom is coming" and that they needed to be freed from dynasties; in this case the Petitioner," read the affidavit in part.
Githongo added that some staff from IEBC also assisted the hackers in manipulating the results.
However, Ruto's team of 54 lawyers dismissed all the allegations raised in the petitions, maintaining that he was duly elected. Led former Tharaka Nithi Senator, Kithure Kindiki, they also dismissed petitions submitted by Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, and Martha Karua.
The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Martha Koome is set to make a ruling on the petition on or before Monday, September 5.
