The defendants include Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi, Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula. Also sued are Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, ODM communications director Philip Etale, the Nation Media Group and Radio Africa Group.
Idemia Identity and Security France, formerly known as Safran Morpho, provided electronic systems that identified Kenyan voters and transmitted election results.
The case was filed in the Nairobi High Court on April 17 by CM Advocates LLP.
The firm wants the politicians and the two media houses permanently blocked from making remarks or publishing defamatory articles against them.
The presidential results of the August 8 election were nullified by the Supreme Court over what it called irregularities and illegalities. A presidential rerun was held on October 26. Raila did not contest.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto of the Jubilee Party were declared winners in the first and second rounds.
The French company says that during and after the election politicians made statements insinuating that it had engaged in irregularities. These statements which were repeated in the media, resulting in damage to its reputation, the company says.
As remedy, the company wants the court to issue an order compelling the media houses and the four politicians to pull down all articles already published on different social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and online relating to the company and the conduct of the general election.
In a sworn affidavit, Yves Charvin, an in-house lawyer for the company, says that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission contracted the company to provide the necessary technology to power the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System (KIEMS).
Charvin says the company provided the IEBC with about 45,000 secure biometric tablets for verification of the voters list before the election.
