Four IEBC commissioners have accused chairman Wafula Chebukati of cooking presidential election results in favour of William Ruto.
Addressing a press conference at Serena Hotel in Nairobi on Tuesday, 16 August 2022, the commissioners; Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit, Justus Nyang’aya and Vice Chair Juliana Cherera said contrary to the constitution and legislation, by the time the Chairman declared the final results, results from other constituencies had not been announced.
According to IEBC, William Ruto garnered 7,176,141 votes, which represents 50.49 per cent of the total votes cast while Raila Odinga got 6,942,930 votes or 48 per cent of the votes.
Roots Party candidate Prof. George Wajackoyah and his Agano Party counterpart David Mwaure amassed 61,969 (0.44 per cent) and 31,987 (0.23 per cent) respectively.
“This summation gives us a total of 100.01 pc. The 0.01 per cent translates to approximately 142,000 votes which will make a significant difference in the final results we, therefore, decline to take ownership because the aggregation resulted in a total exceeding the percentage of 100,” said Cherera.
Cherara said whereas Chebukati claimed that Raila attained 25% of votes in 34 counties while Ruto attained 25% in 39 counties, the question is, which figures constituted the independent variable to warrant the conclusion?
She further stated that the results of the presidential contest were made public by IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati despite the fact that the electoral body did not announce the total number of votes cast, the total number of rejected votes and the total tally of registered voters.
“The percentages are essentially a fraction of a whole number hence if for example the 7.17 million valid votes cast in favour of the winning candidate as announced translates to 50.49 per cent then it was 50.49 of what?” she posed.
“Further take notice that Chebukati claimed that Raila attained 25pc of votes in 34 counties while Ruto attained 25 per cent in 39 counties. The question is which figures in the 34 and 39 counties respectively constituted the independent variable to warrant the conclusion of 25 per cent in 34 counties and 25 per cent in the 39 counties for Raila and Ruto respectively.”
“In the absence of a credible and verifiable explanation, we concluded that the process that went into Form 34C was opaque and incapable of earning our ownership and confidence,” she said.
Francis Wanderi, IEBC Commissioner, said: We do not know the actual numbers… The final tally was not brought to the attention of the commission. He (Chebukati) did not allow us to discuss the results to see whether there were any disparities before they were declared.”
Cherara also said Chebukati has conducted the elections as though he is the National Returning officer; which she said is a non-existent role.
“The results of the presidential election held in August 9th 2022, declared and announced by Wafula Chebukati on August 15th 2022 belonged to himself and do not represent the declaration and announcement by IEBC. We therefore decline to take ownership of the said presidential results because the aggregation resulted in a total exceeding 100%,” she said.
The IEBC commissioners made the proclamation as Odinga was also holding a parallel press conference in which he rejected the outcome of the election.
Odinga rejected what he described as unconstitutional means used by Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati to announce Ruto the winner.
“We totally and without reservations reject the presidential results announced yesterday… We are pursuing constitutional and lawful channels and processes to invalidate Mr. Chebukati’s illegal and unconstitutional pronouncement,” Odinga said.
He said that only Mr Chebukati alone had access to the tally of the presidential vote and denied all commissioners access to that information.
“Our budding democracy yesterday suffered a major setback. Our constitution is very clear on how the IEBC should carry out its role. What we saw yesterday was a blatant disregard of the law by Mr Wafula Chebukati & the minority commission,” Odinga said.
“The law on the IEBC provides that unless a unanimous decision is reached, a decision on any matter before the commission shall be by a majority of the members present and voting,” he said.
The Azimio presidential candidate said the figures announced by Mr. Chebukati are null and void and must be quashed by a court of law.
“In our view there is neither a legally and validly declared winner nor a president elect,” he said.
Deputy President William Ruto was on Monday declared the winner of Kenya’s presidential election amid dramatic scenes.