Orengo forced to apologise to CJ Maraga after making controversial remarks

juma chrispinus

August 29, 2017 12:50 PM

Orengo was silenced by both Jubilee and IEBC lawyers, forcing him to tender his apology.

Inquisitive CJ David Maraga was irked by NASA lawyer James Orengos remarks that IEBC had bungled an earlier court order to access the key data at the polls team.

Interjecting the submissions by Uhuru Kenyatta’s lawyer Ahmed Nassir, Orengo claimed that the IEBC had failed to avail the preset information as ordered by the court on Monday.

Mr Orengo had rubbished assertions by IEBC that the ICT team, currently at Milimani Law Courts, is scrutinizing the IEBC servers, terming the claim a blatant lie.

READ: IEBC’s new announcement to Raila over server access

“The serves are in Europe, we are not refusing to give access. Europe is a couple of hours behind us, so we had to wait for them to wake up, set up an access window with security safeguards,” Paul Muite, the IEBC lawyer, told the court.

The heated debate set a pace for tough interrogation by the Supreme Court President David Maraga who wanted to know why Mr Orengo rudely interjected the Jubilee side’s submission.

“So there is no obstacle in complying with the court order? Then Mr Orengo why are interrupting the Court proceedings? Why are you when all the orders are being followed to the later, only that you are requesting for what is outside the order by this court?” CJ Maraga paused.

On his part, Mr Orengo apologised, terming the submissions on the issue as untrue.

“Ah my lord I am sorry, that is not true. In regard to what Mr Muite has said that there is no compliance as people in Europe are still asleep. That’s the only thing we differ with,” Orengo said.

On his part, Uhuru Kenyatta’s lawyer Fred Ngatia, in a rejoinder argued that the NASA team had demanded access to what the court did not guarantee on Monday, hence the scuffle.

He divulged that the NASA team had refused to accept the soft copy log that the IEBC supplied to them at the Milimani Law Courts, and instead demanded to inspect the servers, a request beyond the orders given by the court.

“We are having a discussion to have the letter responded ti in writing by our ICT team,” Mr Ngatia said.

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