Babu Owino never rearranged ballot boxes, court told

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A returning officer has told court that Embakasi East MP Babu Owino never tampered with the election material because he never saw him rearranging the ballot boxes.
Nicholas Butuk told Justice Joseph Sergon who has been hearing the petition filed by Jubilee candidate Francis Muriithi that it is his duty and his staff to arrange the ballot boxes.
Butuk also told the court that he later found out that ANC candidate Joshua Obiende did not cast his vote.
“I came to know that Obiende never voted after CID officer came to my office to inquire if indeed he was an agent,” the RO added.
When asked why the officers were there, he said that they informed him that they were investigating allegations by Obiende that he had been attacked by Babu.
One of Babu’s agents Duncan Odundo who also testified today told the court that he never witnessed any violence at the center but there was disorder and commotion.
“There was brief commotion and disorder when the center was opened since voters were trying to find out which polling stations they were supposed to vote,” said Odundo.
However, he said that everything went back to normal soon as the IEBC officers went to assist them.
The agent added that he did not see ANC candidate Obiende bleeding nor being attacked by Babu’s people.
He added that that the only thing he saw was the candidate being escorted outside the center by some people.
Another ODM agent Jimmy Owino who was manning one of the stations whose results were said to have been altered testified that he gave out the correct figures but were wrongly recorded.
He said that Babu got 271 and not 021whereas his closest rival Muriithi got 156 votes.
He however told the court that the figures were then corrected in front of all the other agents and that was why the Form 35A appeared to have been altered.
Owino added that none of the agents asked for a recount after the alteration because the votes had been recounted and all of them were there.
However, during cross examination by the petitioner’s lawyer, the court heard that the signatures in some of the forms did not match Owino’s yet he claimed to have signed them himself.
He said that he has two signatures and he used them to sign the form 35A on the 18th of August.
Owino also admitted to have read an affidavit of another agent before writing and signing his.