A lobby affiliated with Azimio la Umoja has called for the arrest of the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati.
The Azimio Presidential Candidate Voter Mobilisation Squad Mombasa Chapter said Chebukati caused a lot of confusion during the final announcement of presidential results at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday.
Addressing the media at Mombasa’s Uhuru Gardens, the group’s patron Lilian Otieno said Chebukati needs to be prosecuted and pay for damages made at the national tallying centre.
“Since Chebukati assumed the chairmanship of the electoral agency, all elections he has handled have been marred with chaos, which leaves more questions than answers,” Otieno said.
On Monday, the electoral commission chairman declared William Ruto the President-elect after garnering 7,176,141 votes representing 50.49 per cent of the total valid votes cast.
Ruto beat his arch-rival ODM leader Raila Odinga of the Azimo la Umoja One Kenya coalition who garnered 6,942,930 votes (48.85 per cent).
Otieno said Chebukati declined to share the final tally of the presidential results with his commissioners and the agents of both presidential candidates before making the announcement.
“It’s embarrassing to note that the same IEBC led by him was reading from two different scripts after the verification exercise of the presidential results in the just concluded general election,” she said.
Otieno said Chebukati has repeated the same mistake which led to the nullification of the presidential results by the Supreme Court in 2017.
She said as a group, they are demanding accurate results on Form 34C as required by law and the 2017 Supreme Court judgment.
“It is his arrogance that led to voter apathy which moved from bad to worse as evident in the just ended polls,” Otieno said.
She also expressed disappointment with the Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit for praying and allowing the process to continue even after the polls were disputed and marred with chaos.
She said it was wrong for religious leaders to be partisan.
Sapit has come under sharp criticism since Monday after he led the opening prayers that preceded the announcement of the presidential results.
This was after Azimio agents protested the results, leading to chaos and confusion that led to a number of high commissioners and other international dignitaries storming out of Bomas after waiting for hours.
“We are sorry to say that the Anglican Church of Kenya’s image has been tainted in their being silent and participating in the declaration of the final presidential tally,” Otieno said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
