Raila Odinga denies reaching agreement with IEBC

Opposition leader Raila Odinga Photo:Courtesy

Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday held a meeting with members of the Abagusii community to review the state of affairs in the country.

The NASA presidential candidate said that only credible election will stir economic growth, and insisted that the struggle for democracy will continue as scheduled.

He denied reaching an agreement with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Below is his full statement:

“This has been a meeting with members of the Abagusii community to review the state of affairs in our country after the last elections.

Like people from other counties who have come here or whom we have visited, the Abagusii know their votes were stolen in August and that Uhuru and Ruto have zero support in that county.

Looking at the landscape, we all agree that hard times await our country in the days and years ahead, both in terms of economy and protection of fundamental freedoms and liberties.

Only credible elections will bring stability to our country and help our economy grow.

Sham elections will do the exact opposite, sinking us into deeper poverty and taking us back to the era of authoritarian rules whose tell-tale signs are already around us.

We have struggled and sacrificed for democracy and good governance before, and we agreed that there must be no turning back.

It is important that we stand with and protect institutions that are standing up for the country in line with our Constitution.

Our Supreme Court, and Judiciary in general is one of those instructions that has tried to execute its mandate as spelt out in the Constitution. They need protection.

What we have seen however is Jubilee’s vilification of institutions and individual officers that have done their duties while defending those that have failed. There has been vicious attack on Supreme Court judges who ruled against President Uhuru. The judges have been called crooks.

Jubilee has gone ahead to use the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate the Registrar of the Supreme Court Esther Nyaiyaki whose “crime” was to deliver a scrutiny report of election results ordered by court.

But the same Jubilee is standing with people like Ezra Chiloba and IEBC that committed irregularities and illegalities in the elections.

This trend has to stop.  But it will not stop on its own. We must stop it.

Do not be cheated that NASA has some agreement with IEBC and that there is some progress that we are party to. We have no such agreement and our faith in IEBC remains zero, which is why our political action plan must continue.

NASA respects the independence of our institutions, but we are opposed to protecting and defending institutions that have been manipulated into failing that nation and sweeping their culpability under the rug, vouching for their capacity to conduct elections simply because we have funded them.

That is not how nations build strong instructions.

That is how to water impunity and bring down a nation.

IEBC failed spectacularly on the 8th. That is not in doubt.  Should we then be vouching for the IEBC or demanding “value for money” audit?

We have agreed here that we must continue championing a fair and just cause aimed only at defending our constitution and strengthening our hard-won democracy.

We have agreed to mobilize men and women who mean well for Kenya to stand up against impunity and demand Uchaguzi bora, not Bora Uchaguzi

To this end, we have agreed that we continue with peaceful protests which is a fundamental constitutional right.

We reject attempts to imply that that NASA'S decision to hold peaceful demonstrations are acts of violence.

Those protests shall therefore continue across the country every Monday and Friday in accordance with the law.

It's self-evident that the police have been systematically and consistently trigger-happy against unarmed peaceful NASA supporters and have unleashed brutal force against innocent civilians including young university students.

Using thugs in police uniform to invade a university and beat students in their halls of residence is the heart of darkness and impunity.

We call on all people of goodwill to condemn the police brutality and stand by Kenyans exercising their constitutional right to assemble, picket and demonstrate.

In the end, it is all up to the Kenyan people to determine the fate and future of our country. Let us all stand up and restore our country to the best of our ability.

All nations are shaped by citizens standing for what they want. That is what we must do here beginning this Friday. We must take back our country.”