Raila Odinga declares fresh war on IEBC, lambasts international community

NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga arrives at Okoa Kenya offices in Nairobi on September 1, 2017 to address the press. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

Opposition chief Raila Odinga has launched an onslaught against the electoral agency following the nullification of the presidential election by the Supreme Court.

Raila Friday declared that National Super Alliance (NASA) will not go to the polls with the current secretariat of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), even as he lambasted the international community for legitimising an ‘electoral fraud’.

Speaking during a press briefing, the NASA boss hailed the Supreme Court decision to invalidate the presidential election.

“It is now clear that the entire edifice of IEBC is rotten. Clear evidence shows that the commission was taken over by criminals who ran the General Election using the technology system and resulted in a computer-generated leadership for the people,” he said.

Among the people Raila said conspired with the Government to deny NASA victory in the polls and insisted that they must go include IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba, Immaculate Kassait (Director of Voter Registration), Abdi Yakub Guliye (Commissioner in charge of ICT), Praxidis Tororey (Head of Legal Affairs), Betty Nyabuto (Deputy CEO) and John Muhati (IT Director).

“They must face criminal prosecution. We urge these IEBC officials who have perpetrated a monumental crime against the people to do the right thing and resign,” said Raila, who emphasised that somebody must take responsibility for the sham elections.

Raila expressed his displeasure with the international observers, pointing out that they failed to detect the glaring malpractices that occurred on August 8 and after the results started being transmitted.

While addressing the press at Okoa Kenya offices in Nairobi, Raila demanded that a dialogue should be held on how the repeat presidential elections will be held, proposing that stakeholders from the church and political parties should come together and get a way forward.

He, however, said that changes must first be made at the IEBC before another election is held.

“We call upon Parliament to adopt a bipartisan spirit in order to expedite reforms that may be required. It is our hope that this development can help us find common ground going forward,” he said.

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