• Guliye said the four went to see them in a bid to alter the will of the people.
• Guliye further claims that the four wanted the commission to announce Raila as the winner of the election.
Image: HANDOUT
Former IEBC commissioner Abdi Guliye now claims that members of the National Security Advisory Council threatened them when they made a visit to Bomas.
Guliye was testifying at the IEBC tribunal for the removal of commissioner Irene Masit, who has been cited for gross misconduct in the August 2022 presidential election.
The retired commissioner told the Justice Aggrey Muchelule-led tribunal that four members went to see them on the same day the results were declared.
“We were even threatened that should Kenyans begin to fight each other and blood is spilt, the blood of those Kenyans will be on our hands,” he said.
Guliye said the four, led by Principal Administrative Secretary at the Office of President Kennedy Kihara, Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, former Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and Lt General Francis Omondi Ogolla the Vice Chief of Defence, went to see them in a bid to alter the will of the people.
“After we went to the boardroom, we did an introduction and they introduced themselves, led them by Kihara, and he was the only one who spoke,” Guliye said.
The tribunal heard that Kihara said they were there on behalf of NSAC and the reason for the visit was that 'if we declared William Ruto as president the country was going to burn'.
“As an alternative in the event that we didn’t announce the results whoever they wanted us to announce, then the message was that we should ensure a run-off,” he said.
Guliye further claimed that the four wanted the commission to announce Raila as the winner of the election.
He said that at that time he didn’t know the results and the CEO was in the process of printing the final tally.
Guliye said the Kihara-led team wanted positive feedback to take back to the committee.
“Remember they said they were emissaries so they wanted feedback of an assurance to take back to the committee,” he said.
According to him, the assurance they wanted was they would comply but that was not forthcoming from the commissioner.
However, four IEBC commissioners, including Masit, agreed with the sentiments of the visitors.
Guliye claimed that Masit made the following comment in the presence of the visitors: "We need to pay serious attention and consideration to the advice given and support the sentiments of the visitors”.
“When it was my turn to speak, I told them the commission had a constitutional mandate and in declaring the result it would be guided by the same Constitution,” he said.
Guliye said it was not in order for anyone to assert that somebody should be declared the winner when they did not know who the winner was at the time.
“It was not in order for any commissioner to make any statement regarding supporting any particular candidate because we didn’t know who was the winning candidate,” he said.
After the visitors left, Guliye, Boya Molu and chairman Wafula Chebukati headed to another room where they called the four presidential candidates to sign form 34C. Molu and Chebukati are now retired.
Guliye said the four commissioners who wanted them to force a run-off due to the small margin win did not follow them to declare the results.
It was only after the fracas at the podium when they were whisked away to safety in the holding area that they saw their colleagues on the split TV screen.
“It looks like it was pre-arranged. How do you leave Bomas in 20 minutes and come to a completely set up podium complete with live media?” he posed.
Earlier in the morning at around 3am on the same day, Guliye claims Azimio leaders went to see Chebukati, who called all the commissioners to the meeting.
“We were being asked to ensure that the country is holding together by said ‘senior citizens’ and they wanted to moderate the results in favour of one person,” the tribunal heard.
Guliye claimed that Masit was of the opinion that they announce a particular candidate and not the other.
Molu also testified and reiterated what Guliye had told the tribunal.
The hearing resumes Tuesday morning and Chebukati is expected to take the stand.