CJ Koome on Juliana Cherera group walkout: Why participate in the verification yet it was opaque?

The bench concluded in a ruling read out by Chief Justice Martha Koome that the four dissident commissioners, Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyangaya, Francis Wanderi, and Irene Masit, failed to provide evidence that the results declared by IEBC Chairman Chebukati would have ultimately differed.

"That their view should prevail because they are the majority." We note that apart from their 11th hour denunciation, there is no election that the election was compromised . They have not stated why they participated in the verification yet it was opaque," Koome said  in part. 

According to CJ Koome, who described the walkout as a last-minute boardroom rapture, the buck of tallying and veryfying stops with the commission and is carried out by the commission secretariat and technical staff.

Although the commission's chairman cannot exercise veto power in the verification and declaration of results, the Chief Justice noted that in the 2022 election, the four commissioners were sufficiently involved in the verification process. 

"The chairman cannot arrogate to himself powers to tally the results at the exclusion of other commissioners," the ruling reads. 

The four dissident commissioners, according to CJ Koome, actively participated in the verification and took turns announcing the declared results.

"We also take cognizance that the four commissioners participated in the verification until the last minute," she added. 

The differences that rocked the commission and played out publicly, according to the Apex Court, did not prevent the results from being declared in accordance with Article 138 (3c) and (10) of the Kenyan constitution.