NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 22 – The Juliana Cherera-led faction of four IEBC commissioners met top Azimio operatives including Raphael Tuju and Nick Salat, an apartment manager appearing before the Muchelule Tribunal reveled on Thursday.
Simon Mila, a manager at Yala Apartments, told the Justice Aggrey Muchelule-led tribunal established to investigate the conduct of four commissioners who contested the outcome of the August 9 presidential election and demanded a rerun said the faction was visited by the two during their 4-day stay.
He identified Tuju and Salat while commenting on surveillance footage submitted to the tribunal which recorded the said visits.
Mila told the tribunal three units comprising three-bedroom apartments were reserved prior to the arrival of Cherera, Irene Masit, Justus Nyang’aya and Francis Wanderi who declined to register as guests when they arrived at the apartments on August 15, hours after IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati declared presidential election results.
He identified the individual who made the reservation as Edwin Ng’ong’a Ogwe, a frequent client at the apartments.
“Page eight is the invoice of all the three rooms to Edwin Ng’ong’a Ogwe and the four commissioners were living there and we normally invoice the booker that is the person who booked since they are the ones to pay,” Mila said in submissions during cross-examination by Masit’s lawyer.
Just before they arrived at the apartments, the four commissioners had staged a parallel press conference at Serena Hotel where they disowned Chebukati’s announcement.
Mila was appearing before the tribunal after the lead council in the proceedings, Peter Murage, wrote to the apartment management on Friday, September 9, asking for the records of previous guests at the property.
He stated that their team in the apartment at that time identified four of the IEBC commissioners through CCTV footage since they declined to give their records for booking, instead ordering their security officers to sort out the matter.
“Our team identified four commissioners of the IEBC commission and since we could not get the records and for our records, we needed identification and because we did not, we managed to save the CCTV footage on the arrival day,” he said.
“We could not get the records because they were not willing to give the records and their security said they will sort it out the next day.”
He added that the booking documents provided to the tribunal were signed by the security officers attached to the Cherera faction, not the commissioners.
The three apartments — 21, 23 and 27 — were shared among the commissioners and their security, with two male commissioners sharing a unit as did the two female commissioners. The third was occupied by the security officers who accompanied them.
Mila said the guests vacated on August 19 in the afternoon.
The team tribunal was gazetted by President William Ruto on December 2 with a mandate to investigate the removal of the four besieged IEBC commissioners.
The tribunal is required to expeditiously conclude its hearings and report its findings which are binding with the President expected to act on them within 30 days.
National Assembly recommended the removal of the Cherera-led faction from office after adopting the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee report.
