DP Ruto team: Here are our fears over August election rigging

Deputy President William Ruto’s side has cited President Uhuru Kenyatta’s involvement in his succession and the delayed hiring of the electoral agency’s CEO as some of the reasons they fear there will be no free, fair and credible elections.

This comes as Azimio la Umoja of Raila Odinga said the coalition had no concerns that the August General Election would be rigged.

Introducing an amendment to the Political Parties Act less than a year to the August 9 polls was a bad sign, said Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok, DP Ruto’s director-general of presidential campaigns.

“(That is changing) the rules of the game at the eleventh hour. The 2007 election was contested because of changing those rules at the last minute,” Mr Nanok said in an interview on a local TV station on Tuesday evening.

“Some of the issues in Kriegler’s report (on the 2007 elections) was that (MPs should) not change the rules a year before the election, which is basically happening.

“If you see the Political Parties Act having new things to form this corporate political party where individual membership isn’t allowed, it is an unconstitutional move.”

With four months to polling day, MPs are in a rush to amend the law to allow for physical transmission of election results in areas with 3G mobile network coverage.

They also want to have their nicknames accepted by the electoral agency, and prevent election petitions related to MCAs from going beyond the High Court.

Mr Nanok said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) level of preparedness for polls and that of other government agencies is not satisfactory, and the DP’s camp feels there is an elaborate scheme to rig the elections.

“The Kenya Kwanza team led by William Ruto is concerned about the activities and processes leading to the August 9 election, particularly the preparedness of IEBC but also the preparedness of government institutions that are supposed to support IEBC to deliver that election, like security institutions,” he said.

He also said it was hypocritical for Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho to pledge support for the IEBC while pledging to back Mr Odinga.

“The Interior Cabinet secretary and his principal secretary have been on record and openly canvassing votes for the Azimio candidate but at the same time speaking from the other side of the mouth that they would support IEBC to have free and fair elections. Those are two contradictory statements because which one do you trust?” he said.

IEBC Commissioners

The DP’s side is still questioning why it took so long to appoint the four commissioners of the electoral agency and a substantive secretary.

“There was also an issue about the CEO of IEBC. It has taken almost four years to appoint one. There has been an acting one and the bigger concern was, do we bring in a new person or do we have continuity in that office, because it is critical to have senior officials who can stand the job and take us through that transition,” Mr Nanok said.

“Other concerns include the timeliness of support to IEBC, for instance, four commissioners out of seven have been in office for less than a year. In terms of preparing for the elections, (that) is a challenge.”

The commission became fully constituted when Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Irene Cherop, and Justus Abonyo were sworn in to office in September 2021, filling vacant positions left after Roselyn Akombe, Margaret Mwachanya, Paul Kurgat, and Connie Maina resigned.

The IEBC also installed its substantive CEO last week after Marjan Hussein Marjan, who had worked in acting capacity since 2018, took over from Ezra Chiloba, who is now the director-general of the Communications Authority of Kenya.

The IEBC’s alleged unpreparedness does not affect one side only, said Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, the chairperson of Mr Odinga’s campaign board. He argued that all political players should work together to empower the electoral agency to deliver credible elections.

“The condition of the referee does not only affect one of the teams, it affects both teams that are on the field. Therefore, I personally feel that ... we should (always) help IEBC to become better,” Mr Muriithi said.

He challenged DP Ruto’s camp to use the influence of its leaders to resolve any issues at the IEBC.

“There is another thing (about) trust … you say one thing in the morning, another thing at lunch time and another later. Because our competitors have been going around the country saying that they have instructed their MPs in Parliament right now that resources for devolution (should be) increased to 35 per cent,” he said.

“If they had issues they wanted resolved, they could have used the same opportunity (to do so).”

He added: “Of course, our team has no concerns about rigging but we have been on record saying that we should always continue to develop stronger and credible institutions.”

He said there was nothing substantial in the rigging allegations made by DP Ruto, arguing that he made the claims after sensing that he would lose the August elections.

“(We) are for strengthening institutions always. However, we are where we are because our competitors are beginning to (complain) because they sense defeat,” Mr Muriithi said.

He added: “For us, it is all about the economy because if you look at every electoral circle, the economy basically loses a Sh500-600 billion opportunity.

“The economy will be growing by five to six percent in the electoral circle. We are back to zero. So, credible elections are not just a political matter but they are intensely economic matters.”

[email protected]