August poll a protest vote, say Ruto and Musalia

The August election will be a protest vote against state capture and projects, Deputy President William Ruto and ANC boss Musalia Mudavadi have said. 

The two and their troops have turned the heat on the IEBC and the Attorney General over proposed changes to the election law that seek to ban live streaming of presidential election results.

Ruto said Kenyans will use the election to reject "state puppets" and the deep state, which have held the country hostage for decades.

“The August election will be a protest vote against projects, high-handedness, intimidation, harassment and tribalism so that Kenyans can be free and Kenya becomes an equal society for all,” he said.

Ruto spoke on Friday in Voi town, Taita Taveta county, where he, Mudavadi and their troops took their ‘Kenya Kwanza’ campaigns.

They later trooped to Kilifi where they drummed up support for their alliance.

The DP said some state operatives want to have their way in the election to perpetuate state capture. He warned that Kenyans will reject them at the ballot.

Ruto said the "retrogressive" Election (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was part of a wider plan to rig the election for a "project".

The DP has taken to using the term 'project' in reference to ODM leader Raila Odinga, who is thought to have the support of the state. 

The Bill proposes, among others, to ban live streaming of poll results and allow for both manual and digital transmission of presidential election results.

“The dark forces. The evil forces that are behind this project are the same people behind this evil Bill,” he said.

Ruto’s attack on the Bill, which proposes a hybrid system of transmission of results, is a U-turn from the position he held in 2017.

At the time, the DP, then on good terms with his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta, rooted for the manual and digital transmission of presidential results.

“We will change the law to ensure that no court overturns the will of the people without counting the votes cast by the people of Kenya,” Ruto said in 2017.

“It is not possible. When live streaming of results is on course, manual transmission should go on concurrently. When one method of transmission fails, the other one becomes applicable.”

Mudavadi, who recently ditched the One Kenya Alliance and teamed up with the DP, said he and his Ford Kenya counterpart walked out of Oka because it was an appendage of the project.

“We want Kenyans to get some relief. We don’t want projects that is why we came together as UDA, Ford Kenya and ANC so that we win this election in the first round," he said.

Mudavadi accused the IEBC of trying to change the rules of the game at the last minute.

“You can’t change the rules of the games after the eleventh hour. We want the IEBC to tell us, who is the real owner of this Bill?” he said.

Ford-K leader Moses Wetang'ula said they have instructed their MPs to reject the proposed changes.

MPs Kimani Ichung’wa (Kikuyu), Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira) and Senator Kithure Kindiki (Tharaka Nithi) also criticised the Bill.

Ichung’wa asked Attorney General Paul Kihara to come clean on the motive behind the Bill, which he said went through the AG's office.

“We demand you withdraw this Bill immediately and allow the IEBC to freely engage all stakeholders,” the legislator said.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya