Claims of hacking added to Odinga poll challenge

Raila Odinga, the losing candidate in Kenya’s presidential election, has included fresh accusations of fraud in his petition to overturn the outcome of the vote.

His lawyers have filed testimony from anti-corruption campaigner John Githongo, in which he claims to have evidence of widespread, systematic manipulation of the computerized results database.

In his affidavit, Mr. Githongo says a source approached him with evidence that a team of more than 50 people worked to intervene in the tallying process, digitally altering results from counting stations in Mr. Ruto’s favor before uploading them onto the election commission website.

Mr. Githongo says one of those involved was Dennis Itumbi, a digital strategist working for the declared winner of the election, William Ruto.

Reacting to the accusation on Twitter, Mr. Itumbi has said: “The Fiction presented as a serious case! I am reading about myself in what sounds like a wild novel.”

To verify whether systematic tampering with the declaration documents has taken place, the forms lodged with the electoral commission will have to be compared with the original hard copies of the forms completed by returning officers at local counting stations.

Mr. Odinga’s petition was lodged with the Supreme Court on Monday, which has 14 days to make a ruling.

Source: BBC