About 120 people have been killed in riots following the announcement of the disputed presidential polls. Jeff Otieno interviewed the Electoral Commission of Kenya Chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu on Tuesday night after he met with the commissioners at his Nairobi home. We bring you the excerpts.

Journalist (J): The European Union says the just concluded general election had a lot of flaws. Do you agree?
Samuel Kivuitu (SK): I don't know.

J: Do you believe that Mwai Kibaki fairly won the election.
SK: I don't know. That is until I see the original records which I can't for now unless the court authorises. What we have are records of results from field officers.

J: But you are saying the commission cannot go to court on it's on.
SK: At least as far as we know, that is the position but we are studying it. We are seeking a legal opinion from lawyers outside the country because the commission is already an interested party.

J: Since there was reasonable doubt could you then have withheld the results.
SK: No. I couldn't hold the results. We would have as well said there was no election
J: You went to State House to  swear in an unpopular president.
SK: How do you know he was unpopular.
J: This is because of the nature of swearing in. In 2002 everybody was there.
SK: How about 1997 and 1992.

J: That was unpopular too. We made great democratic strides and we can't go back.
SK: You think we should emulate the swearing in of 2002 where stones missed my head by inches. Is a stone democratic?
Let me tell you how swearing in came about. Some people came to me and said they were asked to collect the certificate and insisted that we must give it out.

But I asked why I should give them a certificate because in law it should be given to the person who has been declared president.

I decided to take it there [State House] myself and when I arrived there I found the Chief Justice swearing in the president. I don't swear presidents. I only gave him the certificate.

J: Under duress?
SK: What duress. Some people came to me saying they have come to collect the document (certificate) and I said I can never do that. It can only be given by the chairman himself.

J: Which you delivered?
SK: Yes I delivered it. Because I had already declared him president, so what was wrong with delivering it to him?
Even when a couple goes to a church and are declared husband and wife, they are given a certificate. That is what I did, I delivered a wedding certificate.

J: Are some of your commissioners involved in the mess on election figures especially those received from central Kenya.
SK: I doubt it, but that is part of the investigations we have said we are going to carry out.
However, we must get legal authority to do so because the law does not allow us to do more than we have done unfortunately.
J: There is a rumour that you are contemplating to resign is it true.
SK: No, that is not true.

J: What is your comment about the current situation in the country? There is chaos and violence in many parts of the country.
SK: The politicians also should play a role in bringing an end to the violence.
The idea that it is only the ECK which has a role in bringing an end to the chaos is erroneous. 
People who are dying are not being killed by the ECK but what politicians say.

J: Don't you think people are dying because there is an allegation that the just concluded election was a "stolen election"?
SK: I am glad you called it an allegation.
J: Do you agree there was flaws in the  concluded election?
SK: We can't say so until we investigate. You must give us time to investigate.

J: So you support the calls for investigations ?
SK: Investigations will have to be done, however, this is beyond us. It is the court's work.
J: How long will it take?
SK: I have never worked in court for many years. The last time I was a magistrate was in 1966.

J: Will the commission go to court or wait for politicians to seek redress ?
SK: The law does not allow us to file any complaint but we are considering whether there is an option to that effect. This is why we are here.
J: But some of your commissioners wanted investigations into the cause of the election flaws done.
SK: I also issued a statement saying the same. Apparently you don't think my statement is important. You wanted a statement issued by some commissioners to show that we are divided, we are not divided and that is why we are all here.

J: Between withholding the results and announcing them what could have been the better option?
SK: Which one do you think was better because you are also a person like me.
J: You would have withheld because violence was not much.
SK: Even before we announced the result violence had started.

J: But not as many [deaths].
SK: Are you Jesus Christ to know that they (deaths) were not as many.
J: You spoke about some returning officers switching off their mobile phone. Do you think this was sabotage?
SK: I can't know. That is why I am saying we must carry out investigations. The issue is not about switching off phones, it is whether the figures given were correct or not.
If we get backing from the law, allowing us to check whether the figures were correct we will do so. The issue is the figures, it is not whether telephones were working or not.

J: Do you think a re-election will be a solution to this problem ?
SK: I don't know, you are also a Kenyan. You newsmen purport to be different from us but we are all Kenyans. Even if we would have declared Raila the winner, you know what would have happened. This is because of the closeness of the election. We have never seen this before.

J: At this time how are you feeling as the chairman when all blame is on you?
SK: I am feeling like a chairman
J: Everybody is blaming you
SK: It is ok. Who is blameless in the world?  Even you are blamed for something.

J:  Are you going to resign?
SK: Why should I resign?
J: Maybe you have failed in your job
SK: Failed what? Failed in which way? I announced the results as they came. Other commissioners announced them as they came. I was only given the total tally and I did announce them. So where did I go wrong.
J:  You said you will quit after the general election.

SK: I will still go but I don't want to go now. People will say I am a coward.
J: You have just said if you had declared Mr Odinga there would have been violence. Do you consider Raila Odinga a dangerous man?
SK: He is not the one who would have caused riots. The other side (PNU supporters) would have caused riots.
J: Were you under duress when announcing the results. Did anyone from State House call you and say this is the winner?
SK: No, No. Samuel Kivuitu is beyond that.

J: What do you think is the way forward?
SK: The way forward is for the politicians to stop abusing one another, stop inciting people and sit together and talk.
I just received a call from Archbishop Desmond Tutu  and he would like to meet me before he starts reconciliation efforts.
I got another call from the chair lady of the ECK of South Africa who also wants to see me. There are people out there willing to help. The politicians should stop incitement.

UNDER ATTACK: Mr Samuel Kivuitu speaks to journalists on Tuesday. Courtesy photo