Dr. Ekuru Aukot, the presidential candidate for the Thirdway Alliance in Kenya’s August 8, 2017 elections emerged as the sole winner in a case that had been filed at the High Court challenging the award of presidential ballot printing tender to Dubai’s Al Ghurair by IEBC.
In a judgement delivered on Friday, a three judge bench concurred with Dr. Aukot who wanted the tender cancelled and the process repeated afresh since the initial one lacked public participation.
Judges Joel Ngugi, George Odunga and John Mativo said that the commission, as an independent arbiter, should have engaged all presidential candidates in the decision leading to the choice of Al Ghurair Printing & Publishing through direct procurement.
“The failure to consult all the presidential candidates was unfair. IEBC should have treated all the candidates equally,” the judges ruled.
Through his Twitter handle, Dr. Aukot was fast to dismiss initial reports that opposition’s National Super Alliance (NASA) had won the case stating that, only his argument was upheld by the court.
