Ex-IEBC boss James Oswago could not set foot in his ancestral home in Uyoma village, Rarieda, Siaya, for six months after the disputed 2013 presidential election.
Reason? His native Luo community was poisoned by political propagandists that he had failed their son Raila Odinga, who was facing off with Uhuru Kenyatta to take over from President Mwai Kibaki.
Opening up for the first time on the tribulations that befell him following the disputed 2013 presidential election, Oswago says he was blamed 'for not doing enough to help Raila'.
Being at the helm of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, he says it was expected he would 'do something' to support the Cord candidate.
“It is true that people expected that being a Luo CEO I was to do something in support of Raila Odinga. Whether or not he (Raila) himself expected that, I can’t answer,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Star.
The former military lawyer confessed he suffered more during the 2013 elections.
"In fact, I could not go to my Uyoma home because people believed I did not do what I was supposed to do. The bad blood also crept into some relatives but that’s it.”
Raila being a native of Bondo, Oswago said there was a perception that he was to help ‘their man’ to get the seat at all cost.
“At the end of the election, there was a by-election in Siaya for governor. In that by-election, the ODM party leadership had organised a caravan from Akala to all over the place. At every stop, there used to be somebody called Jakoyo Midiwo, he would say Raila won elections but there is an 'idiot' called James Oswago who stole Raila’s votes and his victory,” Oswago said.
“He also said that I was given money and that it was at the basement of Chancery Building where I received it. He even claimed that he knew where the money was. He repeated this at every stop.”
Even as he was being accused by his community of doing little to help the opposition chief, Oswago adds that he faced serious profiling and branding from the TNA side for being an Odinga apologist in the electoral commission.
“Later that year, I went to a law conference in Mombasa. In that meeting, prominent Kikuyu lawyers told me to my face that it was me who tried everything else to rig the election in favour of Raila Odinga.
“I heard one senior government official asking a commissioner on phone whether that ‘Jaluo’ is the one in charge or not,” he said of a statement made during the tense period when the country was impatiently waiting for the presidential results.
He admitted delaying the announcement of results to allow for proper verification of all the results as required by the law.
Asked about his thoughts on the integrity of the 2013 presidential elections, the former CEO said his instincts tell him that "there is a high likelihood that it was rigged."
Oswago said there was a high probability that excess ballot papers were printed by unnamed actors and distributed to polling stations.
Then CORD leader Raila Odinga had repeatedly claimed that the polls were rigged in favour of Kenyatta by use of excess ballot papers.
“Raila Odinga said that somebody printed extra ballot papers for the presidential elections in London. I think he was right. There were extra ballot papers,” Oswago said.
Another issue that impugned the election was what he called "a suspected mass collapse of technology."
He said that while technology failure can be normal, the pattern and extent of the failure in 2013 raised serious prospects of rigging.
Oswago also questioned why the devices only performed a paltry 48 per cent during the main elections despite strenuous training done by the election agency but yet they functioned well in the subsequent by-elections where stakes were not as high.
He further admits that there are issues at IEBC that need fixing, singling out the process of recruiting the commissioners as some of the areas that need a relook.
His sentiments buttress a report by two international election observer groups recommending Kenya must revise its appointment of IEBC bosses to make the process “broad and merit-based”.
“To the government of Kenya and the Parliament, reform the appointment process for IEBC chairpersons and commissioners to ensure broad and merit-based consensus around nominees,” the joint report by the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute recommends.