Tuesday, a few minutes past 3 pm, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, addressed the nation and the world at the KICC and unequivocally rejected the presidential results of the 2022 elections.
“In our view, there is neither a legally and validly declared winner nor a president-elect. Chebukati acted with gross impunity and disregard of the Constitution and our laws,” Odinga said amid thunderous claps from his supporters at the auditorium.
His appearance at KICC is the first time Odinga spoke publicly after the IEBC declared William Ruto the President-elect following the August 9th general election.
He said the pronouncements could have plunged Kenya into chaos had their supporters not exercised great restraint. Still, he noted acts such as what IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati did are impunity and threaten the country’s security.
He termed Monday’s declaration of William Ruto as the President-elect by the IEBC chairman a ‘major setback to democracy and, which (now) puts Kenya at a significant legal and political crisis.
“What we saw yesterday was a blatant disregard of the Constitution and the laws of Kenya by Mr. Chebukati and a minority of IEBC commissioners.
“The law does not vest in the chairperson the role of a dictator to rule the IEBC unilaterally. IEBC is a democratic institution where decisions are taken either by consensus or by a vote of the majority,” Odinga said.
On Monday evening, when Wafula Chebukati was about to announce the presidential election results at the Bomas, four IEBC commissioners walked out and addressed the media at Serena Hotel, where they distanced themselves from the election results.
“Let no one take the law into their own hands. We are passing (through) constitutional and lawful channels to invalidate Chebukati’s illegal and unconstitutional pronouncement. We are certain that justice will prevail.” Raila Odinga, Azimio la Umoja Presidential Candidate.
On Tuesday, the four commissioners, led by the Commission’s vice chairperson, Juliana Cherera, held another press briefing and divulged more information about the intrigues that rocked the Commission on the final tallying day.
The commissioners termed the aggregation of the percentages of the results scored by the four presidential candidates, as declared by Chebukati presented to us, a ‘mathematical absurdity.’
The four claimed that the results’ summation gives 100.01% ‘translates to approximately 142,000 votes, making a significant difference in the final results.
However, it’s unclear whether the commissioners misspoke because quick math of the 0.01 percent of the approximate 14.2 million people who voted translates to 1420 votes, which would not change the final outcome of the election.
“We, therefore, decline to take ownership of the said results because the aggregation resulted in a total exceeding 100 percent, which casts doubt on the accuracy of the source of the figures tallied.
“When we demanded that we verify our record, the Chairman declined, overruled us, and insisted on declaring and announcing the said results,” the commissioners said.
Odinga, seemingly getting cues from the four’s dissent, poked holes at the roles and powers of the Commission’s chairperson, especially concerning the tallying and announcing of the presidential election results. In his 10-minute speech, the Azimio leader quoted a court of appeal ruling in the now famous Maina Kiai 2017 election petition case.
“There’s no doubt from the architecture of the laws we have considered that the people of Kenya didn’t intend to vest or concentrate such sweeping and boundless powers in one individual, the chair of IEBC,” part of the judge’s ruling read.
The five-time presidential election contender said he and his Azimio team were shocked to learn that Chebukati alone decided to announce the supposed winner of the 2022 presidential elections.
“Our view is very clear. The figures announced by Chebukati are null and void and may be quashed by a court of law,” Odinga said further.
However, Odinga said it was not the role of Azimio to decide whether Chebukati committed an offense or not.
“We leave that to the appropriate authorities. But for the avoidance of doubt, we reject the results announced yesterday by Chebukati,” Odinga added.
The Azimio leader commended his supporters for remaining calm and keeping the peace; and urged them to continue to do so.
“Let no one take the law into their own hands. We are passing (through) constitutional and lawful channels to invalidate Chebukati’s illegal and unconstitutional pronouncement. We are certain that justice will prevail,” he said.
The former Prime Minister also commended four commissioners who snubbed the results pronouncement ceremony at Bomas on Monday for their ‘heroism’ and asked them to fear nothing.
In addition, he appealed to the International community to stand with Kenya and ensure that justice and democracy prevail.
“We urge Kenyans and friends and partners of Kenya abroad to stand tall and be counted as we seek to advance the ideals of democracy and open society that we have stood for,” Odinga said.
At Serena Hotel, the four dissenting IEBC commissioners said the results announced by Chebukati did not indicate the total number of registered voters, cast or rejected votes. Thus, they said, the results lacked a critical ingredient– the total number of valid votes cast to support the percentages scored by the 4 candidates.
“Chebukati claimed that Raila attained 25 percent votes in 34 counties while Ruto 25 percent in 39 counties. The question is, which figures in the 34 and 39 counties constituted the independent variable to warrant the conclusion of 25 percent in 34 and 39 counties for Raila and Ruto?” They paused.
They, therefore, said that is why they doubted the process that went into the generation of form 34C, which Chebukati used to declare the results of the presidential elections.