A big split has rocked IEBC after four of the seven commissioners disowned the results that declared Deputy President William Ruto as President-elect.
Signs of trouble were clear at the commission’s tallying centre at Bomas that forced the commission to twice postpone the declaration before the four commissioners walked out in protest.
Minutes before IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto as President-elect chaos erupted at the tallying centre as IEBC top brass were whisked away.
Earlier in the week, there were repeated instances of scuffles at the tallying floor with both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza side trading allegations of a plot to rig.
But on Monday, the simmering tension tipped over as the results were about to be announced.
And in what rekindles the memories of the 2017 elections, the four led by vice chairperson Juliana Cherera pretested what they termed as "opaque nature" in which the results were handled.
She was flanked by commissioners Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Cherono, and Francis Wanderi.
A visibly shaken Cherera said they could not in good conscience accept the result that was to be declared by Chebukati.
Cherera said the commission had conducted the polls in a transparent and efficient manner and that painstaking steps were put in place to ensure credibility and seamlessness in the operations.
But trouble started at the tail end of the process when the votes were being collated at IEBC nerve centre at Bomas.
"We have done the 2022 general election in the most efficient manner. We have ensured that all the challenges have been contained," Cherera said during a hastily arranged press briefing at Serena Hotel.
"We have made sure that we have improved the standards and and we say as a fact as commissioners we have done a good job," she added.
"But some things need to be put out there as you can see the four of us are here and not at Bomas where the result is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of how this phase has been handled," Cherera said.
The outcome of the alleged opaqueness, she said, impugned the credibility of the result and they could not be part of it.
Urging Kenyans to remain calm, the vice chairperson however said there is an open door for people who are disgruntled by the outcome to go to court over the anomalies they noted in the results.
"Because of the same, we urge Kenyans to be peaceful because the rule of law is going to prevail," she said.
The stance of the four seemed to mirror the complaint of Azimio leader Raila Odinga’s agent Saitabao Ole Kanchory at Bomas.
Accompanied by politicians James Orengo, Anyang’ Nyong’o among others, the agent had decried opaqueness, alleging that Chebukati had refused to show them the form 34C that contained the final results to be announced.
He had complained that the chairman had been evasive with them, refusing to come clean on the tallies.
He also alleged that they had ironclad evidence that the IEBC’s system had been infiltrated and compromised to manipulate results in favour of William Ruto.
The commissioners declined to field questions. They said, instead, that they will give a comprehensive statement later.
The rejection of the results by the commissioners will likely put a dent on the credibility of the results that now sets Ruto on the path to becoming the country's fifth president since independence.
The four commissioners were recruited last year following the resignation of four others soon after the 2017 General Election.
They were vice chairperson Nkatha Maina, Roselyn Akombe, Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya.
Akombe resigned days to the repeat presidential election in 2017 questioning the commission's ability to conduct a free and fair elections.
In 2017, Maina, Kurgat and Mwachanya resigned in a huff and accused Chebukati of not properly leading the commissioners.
"For far too long and way too many times, the commission chair has failed to be the steady and stable hand that steers the ship in difficult times and gives direction when needed,” the trio had said in a statement.
They added, “Instead under Chebukati’s leadership, the commission boardroom has become a venue for peddling misinformation, grounds for brewing mistrust and a space for scrambling and chasing individual glory and credit.”
They spoke moments before Chebukati announced the official results at the Bomas of Kenya.
At the Bomas of Kenya on Monday Chebukati cut a lonely face.
Neither of the two others commissioners—Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye—nor CEO Marjan Hussein were present.
-Edited by SKanyara
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