Why Raila may skip presidential election
Nasa leader Raila Odinga has threatened to boycott the repeat presidential election unless electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati sacks the people who bungled the August 8 presidential election.
Mr Odinga, who spoke in Nairobi on Thursday after receiving delegations from Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Isiolo, who defected to Nasa from Jubilee Party, said what happened during the recent General Election is criminal and all those involved, including Jubilee “mandarins”, belong in jail.
“They just wanted to steal from Kenyans. Kenyans endured a lot to vote but their efforts did not count because people stole their votes. Do not chest thump how you won. You did not win; shame on you!” Mr Odinga said.
The Nasa leader also told President Uhuru Kenyatta to stop misleading Kenyans that the court unfairly nullified his victory.
Nasa co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Mr Musalia Mudavadi, as well as Siaya Senator James Orengo and former Machakos Senator Johnston Muthama, were also present.
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS
Mr Odinga’s latest threats are emboldened by serious allegations that Mr Chebukati wants commission CEO Ezra Chiloba to respond to regarding the presidential election that was nullified by the Supreme Court on September 1, 2017.
In a memo to Mr Chiloba, the chairman raises issues on the acquisition of satellite phones, results transmission failures, creation of an illegal account bearing his details and why 595 polling stations failed or refused to send results for the presidential election.
According to the memo, the chairman says the commission spent about Sh848 million to purchase satellite phones to be distributed to each constituency and county tallying centre.
“Areas with no network were specifically supplied with these devices. However, none of these ever worked. Respond and explain what occasioned the massive failure in the devices that would have been used in transmitting the results,” Mr Chebukati said in the memo dated September 5, 2017.
MEMO
He also noted that individuals by the names Paul Mugo and Boniface Wamae, under instructions from ICT director James Muhati, presented a memo dated August 31, 2017 to the chairman’s office through Mr Chiloba’s office that confirmed the creation of a username account and a password in the name of the chairman.
He said the creation was malicious as it was done without his knowledge or consent and that the account was used to undertake over 9,934 transactions in IEBC servers.
The transactions affected forms 34As, which contained data from polling stations. Other entries were deleted.
IMMEDIATE ACTION
“I direct that you take immediate action against these officials and report back by close of business today (September 5, 2017),” he said. But it remains unclear whether Mr Chiloba did as directed by his boss.
According to Mr Odinga, the issues raised by the chairman vindicate the fears raised by Nasa and the Supreme Court while annulling the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“This memo confirms what we went to court for. They spent a lot of money putting systems in place that did not work,” Mr Odinga said.
He added: “It is the reason the Jubilee leadership has been busy talking about numbers they do not have.”
