The officers, fully armed, arrived at Bomas where Chebukati was and asked to see him. But when security guards attached to the chairman and two other commissioners denied them access, the DCI officers insisted they had been sent with a “special message”.
Chebukati was informed but he refused to see them and instead locked himself inside his office, according to one of the commissioners aware of what transpired.
As the standoff ensued, some of the members of William Ruto, then Deputy President’s security detail, arrived at Bomas to 'check' what was going on.
Ruto’s guards, some senior in rank, took charge of the place where Chebukati was 'hiding' and dared the DCI officers to break into Chebukati’s office and forcefully arrest him as tension mounted.
Another standoff ensued even as National Security Advisory Council members arrived at Bomas on August 15, 20222, “to ask Chebukati to delay the announcement until all votes are properly verified”.
Yesterday, Chebukati lifted the lid on the events that surrounded the elections and subsequent announcement of Ruto as President-elect.
He called for a commission of inquiry.
Chebukati and commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, whose tenure at the commission ends Tuesday, have asked President William Ruto to form a commission of inquiry.
The election boss said the enquiry will expose the intrigues after the presidential vote on August 9 at the National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya.
“The outcome of the Enquiry will bolster the independence of the Commission and ensure that it maintains the stature contemplated by the Constitution of Kenya,” Chebukati said.
The chairman narrated how the state officials and mercenaries were used to intimidate, attack, assault, arrest and harm the commissioners and staff in a bid to alter the presidential results.
“The gravity of these attempts to subvert the will of the people cannot be wished away or swept under the carpet because they may re-emerge in the future election,” he emphasised.
Chebukati spoke during the launch of the post-election evaluation report for the August 9, 2022 General Election at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi on Monday.
The event also marked the end of tenure of Chebukati and the two commissioners after serving a constitutional term of six years.
Chebukati’s call could open the Pandora's box for top public officials whom he has publicly accused of trying to persuade him to "moderate" the presidential election results.
“The attempt [to change results] took the form of intimidation of some members of the commission by members of the National Security Advisory Council to moderate results in favour of a presidential candidate,” Chebukati said.
In his affidavit filed at the Supreme Court of Kenya in the case challenging President Ruto’s election, the chairman exposed NSAC members who visited him at Bomas and tried to persuade him against declaring Ruto as the President-elect.
They include Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, the then police IG Hillary Mutyambai, Vice Chief of Defense Forces Francis Ogolla and former Principal Administrative Secretary Kennedy Kihara.
Ogeto and Ogolla are still serving.
Prior to the team’s visit, Chebukati had disclosed that he received a phone call from the then Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua who informed him that he had sent the team.
He noted that the delegation had informed him that if he declared Ruto the President-elect, the country would burn.
“The second part of the message from the NSAC delegation was that if we cannot announce Raila Odinga as the outright winner, then we must ensure that there is a run-off,” Chebukati's affidavit states in part.
While admitting meeting Chebukati, Kihara and Kinyua denied arm-twisting him to alter the results, only insisting that they met him to discuss purely security matters.
But Chebukati said that he, the commissioners and staff witnessed the "gravest" attempt to subvert the will of the people in the last general election.
“The 2022 General Elections witnessed probably the gravest attempts to usurp the independence of the commission and the sovereign will of the people of Kenya as expressed in the polls.
"This was in the form of ethnic profiling and threatening of the commissioners and staff, arrest and holding incommunicado, abduction and detention, attack, assault and intimidation."
Commissioner Guliye narrated how the painful events preceding and after the elections affected them and their families.
Guliye said their families suffered emotional pain as he and his colleague Molu and CEO Marjan Hussein fled the country for fear of their lives as the country anxiously awaited the announcement of the presidential results.
“Misery was inflicted on us and our families,” he said.
He said they went into a three-day hiding in Siberia when temperatures rose as the Bomas of Kenya, the National Tallying Centre.
"We went into hiding in Siberia. We went to an unknown location where the only contact with Kenya was the television. We left our phones at Bomas and boarded a Noah (a seven-seater car)," he said.
In the 184-page report, the commission detailed the challenges it experienced at the National Tallying Centre.
The commission says the tallying centre access controls were overwhelmed by the huge number of people, often leading to serious security breaches.
“The tallying centre manual/guidebook had not provided for operation under crisis,” the report reads.
It recommends strengthening of tallying centre access controls, improvement of the handling of returning officers accessing the centre and installation of CCTV system.
Further, the report recommends that the IEBC conducts research to establish factors that lead to crowding at polling stations as was witnessed in most stations during the polls.
On electoral laws, the commission emphasizes the need to pass all enabling legislations at least one year to election while the recruitment of staff should be done early enough.
A proper mechanism to improve transparency of voting and special voting should be devised.
“There is a need for electoral law amendment to cap the period for settlement of disputes arising from nomination at the commission level and also appeal level to at least 21 days,” the report reads.
However, Chebukati and the commissioners said they were happy with their achievements at the commission, insisting that they were 'satisfied and did not have apologies' to make for their actions.
They advised their successors to be stone-hearted and stick to their oath of office and the Kenya laws for the well-being of the commission and Kenya at large.
“I have no apologies to make to anybody. Those replacing us should not be faint-hearted. Please, choose commissioners wisely,” Guliye said.
Chebukati, Guliye and Molu became the first IEBC commissioners to successfully complete their constitutional terms.
Previous commissioners have either been forced or willingly resigned from office.
Last month, three commissioners Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyangáya and Francis Wanderi were forced to resigned after the President suspended them to pave the way for their investigation by a tribunal over their conduct in the August polls.
Commissioner Irene Masit has however remained put and has faced the tribunal.
In 2017, Roselye Akombe resigned as a commissioner. Three others followed suit the following year — Connie Maina, Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat.
“I exit contented that we gave our best to this commission. We charted and weathered storms that threatened the existence of the commission,” Chebukati said.
Chebukati said his team achieved several milestones, including development of the commission operation from 17 regions to 47 county offices, development of manuals and policies and drafting of various bills.
“Among the key things we did was voter registration. We had an additional 2,74 million new registered voters and expanded the diaspora voting to additional countries to make a total number of 12,” he said.
“We believe the pace has been set and I take this opportune moment to wish our successors all the best as they pick the baton from us to take the elections of this country to the next level,” he added.
(Edited by V.Graham)
