Worth Noting:
- Back to Sabina’s utterances, it is worth to note she was not the first one to allege that 2017 polls had been rigged. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of their petition, the ODM luminaries kicked off this debate.
- The majority of judges of the highest court in the land concurred that Raila had won this election. This informed their decision to nullify Uhuru’s victory and ordered a repeat of presidential election. The court roundly indicted the IEBC for bungling this election.
I have been following with keen interest how the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission [IEBC] was handling the case it had built against the Murang’a woman representative, Sabina Wanjiru Chege.
The case emanated from the utterances she had made during the Azimio La Umoja rally. She was quoted as saying: “I have been hearing some people alleging that 2017 presidential election was rigged. There is some truth in this and the same could happen in the forthcoming polls slated for August this year”.
As of now, the contest to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta has narrowed down to a two-horse race, pitting former Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Azimio La Umoja and Deputy President William Ruto of United Democratic Alliance [UDA]. If it happens, Sabina did not specify the polls would be rigged in favor of which candidate.
Well, I was expecting the DP and his allies to politicize and twist Sabina’s remarks to push their succession agenda. Soon after, my prediction came to pass.
Listen to this: We want President Uhuru Kenyatta to come out and denounce her. This is because her utterances implied something was being cooked.
Why drag the name of the President? He was not running for a political office, and so he stood to gain nothing if the polls were rigged. Again, he had no role to play in the entire process of the management and conduct of the election.
The IEBC is an independent body created by the constitution to preside over the polls and hand over the certificate to the winner.
Uhuru is also on record reiterating that he was ready to fulfil his oath of office of ensuring a smooth transition. After the election, I will handle the instruments of power to the winner.
The President has, however, continued maintaining that he had a constitutional right to vote for a candidate of his choice. Also, the law does not bar him from guiding and rallying his supporters behind this candidate.
If you ask him, this would be his wish. Kenyans should elect a president who will ensure the continuity. This is in terms of completing the mega projects that his administration had started and roll out the new ones.
Given this scenario, one thing is clear. If the August polls would be rigged, the IEBC will bear the whole brunt of acts of commission and omission.
Well, I agree that the President seems to favour the candidature of Raila Odinga. However, the final verdict lies with Kenyans. If they reject him at the ballot, I have no reason to doubt the President commitment to respect the will of the people.
Back to Sabina’s utterances, it is worth to note she was not the first one to allege that 2017 polls had been rigged. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of their petition, the ODM luminaries kicked off this debate.
The majority of judges of the highest court in the land concurred that Raila had won this election. This informed their decision to nullify Uhuru’s victory and ordered a repeat of presidential election. The court roundly indicted the IEBC for bungling this election.
To me, this explains where Sabina’s fears came from. The same Chebukati led IEBC will conduct the August polls. How sure are we they will preside over a free, fair and credible election?
The ODM leaders have to date maintained that 2017 polls were rigged. I have never heard IEBC summoning anyone of them. Why target Sabina? When she honored the first summon to appear before the IEBC Code of Conduct and Enforcement committee chaired by Wafula Chebukati, the chairman said she had a case to answer. This showed he was biased against her.
Chebukati’s remarks and body language since the Kibra by-election and later during the verification of BBI signatures and hearing of the case filed by anti-BBI Bill brigade left tongue wagging. Since then, many believe that he has all along been championing the political cause of DP Ruto.
Can he deny or confirm this? If these fears are proved, he has time to mend his ways. If not, he should ship out. The IEBC’s previous mistakes have cost us [Kenyans] so dearly. We do not want to see a repeat of this.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a Political Analyst and Blogger Based In Nairobi