Ruto poll rigging claim triggers storm
A fresh political bust-up has flared between allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto over claims of a plot to doctor the presidential election results.
The rigging brouhaha was sparked off by a video clip of ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru talking about plans to work for Raila's campaign and that they were in control and were sure of victory.
The video was part of the statements the minister made while at a closed door meeting in Nyeri on Wednesday attended by Kagwe and Azimio candidate Raila.
As a result of the clip, Ruto’s campaign has since dispatched a letter to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission seeking sanctions against ministers who, in their view, are dabbling in politics.
But on Friday, ODM boss Raila Odinga's lieutenants, who also support President Kenyatta, claimed Ruto has panicked on realising he will most certainly lose in August.
The Raila team came out in force after Ruto's team claimed there was a scheme to manipulate the results in favour of Raila, and described the tumult as "cheap propaganda".
The ODM team defended the involvement of Cabinet Secretaries in the campaign and reminded Ruto that a handful of bureaucrats who back the UDA supremo's bid have themselves campaigned for him.
ODM chairman John Mbadi dismissed the rigging claims, saying the desperate bid to drag in CSs were signs of a team in search of excuses.
“People who are facing election loss complain a lot. I see a lot of complaints from Kenya Kwanza which, to me, are signs of panic in a political outfit.
“That is why Raila is busy looking for votes. He is improving his numbers in Central and marshalling his strongholds,” Mbadi said.
Raila, when he was in Mt Kenya this week, oozed confidence of commanding leads in Nyanza, Western, Coast, Northeastern, Eastern, and parts of the Rift Valley.
Mbadi wondered why the DP team is worried yet he has been on the campaign trail since 2017, while Raila is just only starting to popularise his bid.
“There is no deep state working to win this election. There is nothing Mucheru can do. He is not working with the IEBC, and neither is Kagwe (Cabinet Secretary for Health). They are just supporting Raila,” he said.
He said Kenya Kwanza were “looking for excuses in the event the election doesn’t go in favour of their leader.”
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu laughed off the claims and observed that the DP had told his supporters his votes can never be stolen.
“Didn’t he say his votes cannot be stolen? What changed?” the MP asked.
"That was just propaganda for people sensing defeat. Kenyans have participated in free and fair elections for a long time. Why would we want to rig this one when it is outrightly clear the winner is Raila Odinga?" asked Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi.
Apart from Mucheru and Kagwe, Hustler Centre wants IEBC to also probe CSs Eugene Wamalwa (Defence), Fred Matiang’i (Interior), and Peter Munya (Agriculture) for breach of electoral law.
Turkana Governor and director general of the Ruto campaign Josphat Nanok led the calls and claimed the ministers are part of the "system" and part of the "deep state".
Nanok's team demand that the IEBC sanctions the Cabinet team for committing election offences and for blatant breach of the Election Offences Act, 2016.
They argue that the Cabinet secretaries were being used to “pursue impunity, circumvent the rule of law, and corrupt public institutions.”
Ruto’s men further argue that the government is using the officers to “facilitate the commission of criminal offences and subvert democracy.”
The United Democratic Alliance particularly took issue with sentiments by Mucheru about supporting Raila.
“Of concern to us is the critical role the Ministry of ICT plays in supervising and overseeing the Communications Authority of Kenya,” Nanok said in a presser late Thursday.
The argument by UDA is that the CS appeared to insinuate there was a grand scheme involving the country’s mobile network infrastructure.
“CA provides the technological framework for the IEBC to conduct digital registration, digital tallying, and relaying of results electronically,” the UDA members argued.
Their fear, they said, is that the government’s control of the authority would “affect the verifiability, transparency, accountability, and credibility of elections.”
They also raised concerns with sentiments by Mucheru at the Nyeri leaders meeting to the effect that they (state officers) ‘were ensuring the elections were free and fair’.
“We wonder what legal framework mandates a presidential candidate to assign, direct, supervise, and receive reports on election manipulation from Cabinet Secretaries involved in elections,” Nanok said.
It was not the first time Ruto and his allies were raising claims of rigging. While in the US in March, the DP spoke of a similar plot.
Citing the involvement of key state functionaries in the poll preparations, he sought the intervention of the West to help stop rigging attempts.
Ruto said at the Karson Institute for Race, Peace and Social Justice in Maryland that government agencies were involved in the rigging plot.
“We want to make our choices without being chaperoned, blackmailed or intimidated. We see attempts to choreograph the next dispensation,” he said, igniting a huge debate.
On Friday, his closest ally Musalia Mudavadi also claimed the many independent presidential candidates were a ploy by Azimio to rig the election.
“How do you rig an election with so many independent candidates?” Mbadi, the Suba South MP, asked.
Mucheru, who was accused of speaking of the rigging plan, told off the Ruto team saying they were just looking for excuses about their waning popularity.
The CS maintained that as a Kenyan, he is allowed to endorse whichever candidate he wishes from among those in the President Kenyatta succession race.
“I don’t work for the IEBC. I don’t run elections. I am surprised a lot of energy can be put and a letter written to ask IEBC to sanction me,” he told journalists.
He said the DP stood a higher chance of manipulating the election and that the named Cabinet Secretaries are not part of the IEBC.
“I don’t know where idea that we can steal elections is coming from. IEBC knows this is a game by people who are afraid they may not win and are looking for scapegoats,” the CS said.
On the issue of Cabinet Secretaries, Mbadi said it was not the first time CSs were campaigning for a presidential candidate, citing 2017.
“I remember the court determined that there was nothing wrong with the participation of Cabinet Secretaries in the campaign. That should settle the matter,” he said.
The ODM chair said the DP was being a hypocrite as “Ruto himself is using a public office in campaigns.”
“If we are to strictly follow the law, he is in breach. He is using public facilities including his official residence to do politics,” Mbadi said.
Mucheru also said they wondered where the problem was as they were also actively involved in the 2017 presidential campaign where Ruto was Uhuru’s running mate.
“I don’t know why they are gagging us. Much earlier in 2017, we were campaigning together with the same person. Why is it now a problem yet it was okay in 2017?” the CS asked.
“None of us is in the IEBC or involved in the elections. We provide the policy. IEBC gets connectivity from mobile operators. The government has no network.”
Murang'a MP Sabina Chege, who is ascribing to Azimio, has also been before the polls agency over claims of rigging. BY THE STAR
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