This video making rounds on the internet claims to show lawyers allegedly hired by IEBC’s Vice Chair Juliana Cherera, being thrown out of the Supreme Court premises. A tweet that shared this video adds that only lawyers hired by IEBC’s chair, Wafula Chebukati, were allowed in the courtroom.
Background
With a highly contested election, the dust is now settling for Kenya’s general elections. A number of governors have assumed office, members of the National Assembly have taken oath of office and the president has been sworn-in.
So far these elections have been marred by a number of events. The most recent being the Supreme Court’s verdict over the contested presidential victory. Events preceding this verdict saw lawyers from Azimio La Umoja, United Democratic Alliance and those commissioned by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) spending almost a week in the courtroom.
Events following IEBC’s presidential results saw the commission’s vice chair, Juliana Cherera accusing the chair, Wafula Chebukati of sidelining commissioners over a number of things. One being, the appointment of returning officers. This division within the commission manifested during the pre-trial conference ahead of the just concluded hearing.
Verification
A reverse image search on Yandex shows that this video was taken in Kitui County. Articles published about this incident, identify the lawyers being roughed up as Martin Oloo, Stanley Kiima and Morris Kimuli.
The three had appeared before the Kitui County assembly to represent Former Kitui County Governor, Charity Ngilu, who had been summoned by members of the county assembly. The speaker’s summon required Ngilu to appear before the assembly, either in person or represented by a legal counsel.
The earliest this video appeared on the internet was June 29, 2020. Shared on YouTube by Nation Media, it shows the three lawyers being roughed up from the assembly’s premises.
Verdict
NO, this video does show lawyers forcefully being ejected from the Supreme Court.
This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, African Fact Checking Alliance network and the United Nations Development Programme.
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