Bomas election results debacle as witnessed by Wafula Chebukati

When IEBC Commissioners led by their chair Wafula Chebukati addressed issues raised by aspirants from areas where elections were not carried out because of certain technicalities at Bomas of Kenya on August 22,2022. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] After protracted intrigues, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati announced the result on August 15. However, Chebukati's world came crumbling in the full glare of the public just before declaring William Ruto as the President-elect. Chairs were hurled at him, the lectern flung down the auditorium and delegates whisked to safety in what quickly spiraled into an altercation between GSU officers and supporters of Azimio al Umoja and Kenya Kwanza coalitions. Ruto was declared the winner with 7,176,141 votes against Azimio la Umoja flagbearer Raila Odinga who had 6,942,930 votes. In hindsight, the happenings were a culmination of a tense campaign period that had the country in its throes. President Ruto, in an interview last week, promised to probe the happenings at Bomas through a commission of inquiry. "The events of August 15 were horrible because even the military, a sacred institution, had been roped into the scheme to sabotage the will of the people because of state capture.... the story of state capture will be told one day," said Ruto. So what exactly happened at Bomas? A sneak peek into the affidavits filed by IEBC commissioners in the court gives a blow-by-blow account of the damning events. According to Chebukati's affidavit, the commission's woes began after the Azimio officials attempted to alter results in favour of Raila. The first attempt to convince the IEBC chairman and his team to announce or alter the results in favour of Azimo la Umoja was made on August 13, as tallying and verification were ongoing," read the affidavit. Chebukati stated that Azimio Executive Director Raphael Tuju and former Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu tried to seek an audience with him but he declined. Tuju was back again on August 15 at 3am. This time, he was accompanied by former Attorney General Amos Wako and lawyer Kyalo Mbobu and held a conversation for one hour. "They indicated they had made several attempts to see me to discuss the tallying and results. I told them I could only meet them in the presence of all commissioners," said Chebukati in his affidavit. Soon, after all the commissioners had gathered, Chebukati says Wako urged the commission not to operate in a vacuum, and immediately after Tuju chimed in urging for the results to be "moderated in favour of Baba (Raila Odinga)". He went on to say that declaration of any other results would plummet the country into chaos. "As an alternative, he suggested that in the event it was not possible to declare 'Baba' as the president-elect, then the commission should force a run-off. For this, he indicated that should his request be granted, it would be adequately rewarded," claimed Chebukati. Sought audience Two other commissioners - Prof Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu - also corroborated the account of events as narrated by Chebukati in their affidavits. Guliye claimed that when Tuju and Ngilu first sought an audience at the tallying centre, they were against the fast-tracking of the verification process by the commission. "That while the commission was still tallying the presidential election results, I was shocked to learn that some people were willing to sabotage the will of the people and had the audacity to request the commission to come to their aid to achieve such reprehensible desires," he said. Chebukati and Guliye further observed that four commissioners; Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyangaya, and Irene Masit, supported the proposal by Tuju and his emissaries to alter the election results while the rest dissented. "The 2nd respondent (Mr Chebukati), with the support of two other commissioners, Boya Molu and Abdi Yakub Guliye, declined to alter the results. This decision to decline to unlawfully alter the results is the source of the disagreement between the 1st respondent's (IEBC) commissioners," Chebukati said in his affidavit. All the while, those congregated at the auditorium were oblivious to what was going on as a choir serenaded them with sound and dance to pacify an otherwise impatient audience. But the 'delegations' seeking audience with Chebukati didn't end there; he said that on that same morning, he was visited by three members of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC). Chebukati said he had earlier been notified of their arrival by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua. They, however, had to wait for hours before finally gaining access to the chairman. According to the affidavit, the NSAC members told the commissioners that "the country is going to burn" if IEBC declared Ruto as president-elect and "the blood of the dead Kenyans" would be on the commissioners' hands. Guliye, in his court submissions, stated that the "Cherera four" agreed to the proposal by NSAC members to announce Raila as the winner or force a run-off - an account disputed by the other four commissioners in their affidavits. But the other faction of commissioners, led by Cherera, challenged the accusations against them specifically asking for or supporting the altering of the presidential election results. In her affidavit, Cherera detailed that Chebukati, Guliye, and Molu ignored her and the three as "they sought to verify the results prior to the official announcement of the said contest at the Bomas of Kenya." She stated that she had, at 11am on August 15, received communication from IEBC's Corporate Affairs Manager Tabitha Mutemi urging her to inform presidential agents to prepare their presidential candidates for the declaration of results by 3pm. She complied. The affidavit then states that Chebukati would later communicate, through an IEBC WhatsApp group, asking the commissioners to meet in a boardroom within the Bomas of Kenya premises. "At 4.30pm, the chairperson proceeded to issue the commissioners with a document containing what he termed as a summary of the presidential election results which he alleged he had tallied and verified from the backend of the server," read the affidavit in part. "The chairperson did not indicate how the errors and concerns raised by the representatives of the presidential candidates and political parties were dealt with." It further alleged that despite the 'Cherera four' insisting they should scrutinise the document presented, Chebukati allegedly said he would announce the results contained therein. "The chairperson then walked out of the meeting leaving behind the commissioners and proceeded to the auditorium of the tallying centre at Bomas. Together with Wanderi, Nyangaya and Masit, I left the meeting room after the chairperson walked out of the meeting room after disregarding the issues raised by the commissioners," added Cherera. Chebukati and his team would head out to the auditorium where he announced the presidential election results amid chaos. At the time, the dissenting commissioners converged at the Nairobi Serena Hotel where they disowned the presidential results.

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