Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho has reiterated that Azimio Presidential aspirant Raila Odinga was headed for a first round victory against his main rival – Deputy President William Ruto with some 60 percent of votes, according to data by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Dr Kibicho in an apparent jab directed at DP Ruto , accused his camp of playing the politics of perception to influence the public despite intelligence data showing that Mr Odinga was ahead.
“It is a first round win. This is intelligence data and that’s what its saying. It is about 60 percent,” Dr Kibicho told Citizen TV on Tuesday night.
His sentiments came barely two days after Information Communications Technology (ICT) Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru also indicated that data at his disposal showed the Azimio Presidential aspirant winning the August 9 elections in the first round of the vote.
Speaking on Inooro TV on Sunday, Mr Mucheru said Mr Odinga does not need to be helped to win through rigging “and even if we wanted to, it is technically impossible to corrupt the process of picking the fifth president for the country.”
He said Mr Odinga who is being supported by President Uhuru Kenyatta salvaged a final kick from his earlier neck to neck tussle with Dr Ruto by nominating Martha Karua as his running mate.
“The other wing (Kenya Kwanza) messed by picking the one they did (Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua)…That person is doing them no good…But it is their problem and they know why they made their decision. But Karua has excited Kenyans and added value to Mr Odinga’s contest. Many people have confided to us that they will turn out and vote because Karua is credible and represents their aspirations,” Mr Mucheru said.
Yesterday, Dr Kibicho reiterated that intelligence reports put Mr Odinga far much ahead of Dr Ruto his closest challenger.
“There are people who will make noise and do photo shopping for perception creation which is very far from facts.
“For us we don’t deal with those perceptions, we deal with facts on the ground and they are saying very different things form the noise,” the PS said.
He said as government officials with the privilege to access intelligence information, they don’t speak from emotions but facts.
“If you ask me for example what the data is saying today, and because you are entitled to my answer as a public servant, I will give you as it is and the burden of proof then shifts to you.
“If the data I’ve given you, you think its misleading, then tell me what data you have and from where that says otherwise. You cannot criminalize someone for giving you information you have asked for,” said the PS.
He went on: “For example if you have asked me today, what is the polling with respect to the institution I work for, I will tell you. If it favours a person, it doesn’t mean that is the person I necessarily support but it’s what the data is saying.”
“He is in government but has lost touch with it. He is promising to revive Kenya Meat Commission which was revived long time ago and is working.
“He says that when he become president, he will reduce the price of fertilizer from Sh 5,000 to Sh 3,000 but government reduced that long time ago to Sh 2,600. This means we have a person who has completely lost touch with a government he works for,” said the PS.
He pointed out that the August election was a two horse race, noting that the other presidential aspirants were likely to bag probably 2 percent of the total votes cast with Mr Odinga garnering 60 percent and leaving 38 percent to Dr Ruto.
Mr Odinga is seeking the presidency on Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party ticket while Dr Ruto is vying on his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) under the Kenya Kwanza Coalition.
“For us we deal with realities and not perceptions. I am in touch with every village in this country through our national government administration network and we feel the political temperatures of this country.
“What we are seeing is a situation where people start playing victims, creating a perception by making claims of rigging, but what these people are trying to do is to set stage. We know when the stage is being set as it is done through giving inaccurate information to create false perceptions.”
He said President Kenyatta is a firm believer in the rule of law and cannot allow the will of the people to be subverted.
“This election will be won on round one and the government has no plans whatsoever to interfere with the August elections. There can’t be.
“President Kenyatta believes in the rule of law and democracy and is not a person who can sit in a room and tell you to manipulate the will of the people. The rule of the people shall prevail on August 9 2022,” Dr Kibicho affirmed.
He defended the involvement of some civil servants in the political forums, saying they were not campaigning but only involved in civic education, even as he defended Cabinet Secretaries of being allowed by law to take part in politics.
Dr Ruto’s camp has accused Mr Mucheru (ICT) and Interior CS Dr Fred Matiang’i of using their critical portfolios to campaign for Mr Odinga, claims Dr Kibicho said were not justified.
“There is a very big difference between campaigning and getting involved in civic education of our people. There is some right we will not accept to be removed from us because we are duty bound to go and give civic education to our people,” said the PS.
He went on: “When we go somewhere we tell people the important things to check when people go to ask for votes from them. We tell them to check about integrity, their development consciousness and who they are – family values.
“There are people who actually draw a line that we should not speak about these things which is not right.”
He said civil servants are Kenyans “and we live here, what we don’t do is probably go and start saying vote for me because I’m not a candidate.”
“But we have a certain group of politicians in this country whom when they get to the microphone, instead of talking about what they will do for people, to develop this country, all they do is talk about Kibicho and Matiang’i.”
He said as civil servants, they are called upon to give civic education to all Kenyans regardless of their political affiliations.
He said it’s only Mr Odinga’s Azimio camp that has invited them to conduct civic education in their events, and challenged Kenya Kwanza to do the same.
“I challenge today, let the UDA group invite us tomorrow and we will go and talk there. We don’t go to a place we have not been invited because all you have had from them is hurling insults at us instead of using their time wisely to ask for votes from people.
“Kibicho will not be on the ballot paper so don’t spend time talking about me, talk about those who will be on the ballot. I give a challenge if Kenya Kwanza invites me to go and talk about ethics, integrity and how Kenyans will be required to vote I will attend without a problem,” he promised.
“The law is also clear that as civil servants we have a responsibility of giving civic education to our people. So how people interpret civic education to be politics is what I cannot understand.
“Cabinet Secretaries are allowed by law to participate in campaigns because they are products of a political process and are not breaking any law,” Dr Kibicho said.
