We have enough evidence on poll rigging, says Raila Odinga
Azimio leaders Raila Odinga (centre), Martha Karua (second right) and Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka (right) yesterday when they met religious leaders in Karen, Nairobi. Raila called on his supporters to remain peaceful.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition has gathered enough evidence to prove that the August 9 elections were bungled, party leader Raila Odinga has said.
He said they will be moving to the Supreme Court to invalidate the election of DP William Ruto as the president-elect.
Mr Odinga yesterday said that the decision by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati to declare Dr Ruto as the president-elect had split the country and made it a laughing stock.
Speaking after a meeting with a group of religious leaders at his Karen home, Mr Odinga said that the Azimio coalition had already gathered evidence to prove that the declaration made by Mr Chebukati and the process used to arrive at the decision was a sham.
The ODM party leader said that by declaring Dr Ruto the president-elect without following due process, IEBC had not only infringed on the democratic right of the millions of Kenyans who voted in the August 9 polls, but had also exposed the country to ridicule regionally and internationally. He said that the decision to move to court was to help build and restore the country’s democratic space which he said was at a risk of being soiled by the “split decisions by the IEBC to clear Dr Ruto”.
“We are already seeing some calling themselves president-elect yet we know that the decision by the IEBC was not a majority one of the seven commissioners,” Mr Odinga said.
“We have said that we do not want to see any form of violence in the country. We want peace. And that is why we have decided to follow the due and legal process and move to court to prove our case, and present the evidence that shows that the election was a sham,” he added.
Mr Odinga said that the court case will also help unravel the truth of what exactly happened and help the country move on.
“We have said that we want to see justice because that is when we will have a lasting peace. And just like the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, without the truth and justice and peace, there can never be reconciliation,” Mr Odinga said.
“We are doing this to defend our democracy as a country which so many people died for while defending. And so it is our responsibility as those who are still alive to fight for it. We do not want to go back to where we were before,” he added.
Mr Odinga said that the different statements made by Mr Chebukati and the four dissenting IEBC commissioners was evidence enough that the electoral process had been compromised.
“We were in the race and we raced up to the finishing line, but apparently the referees (IEBC) are speaking from different sides and nobody seems to know what happened. If those who were given the responsibility of overseeing the election can bring us this shame, then it means that our democracy is still very much at infancy,” Mr Odinga said.
The chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Martin Kivuva, who led the group of clergy to Mr Odinga’s home, said the visit was to offer a prayer to the Orange party leader and the Azimio family following the election.
The archbishop was accompanied by other religious leaders including the Anglican Church of Kenya’s boss Jackson ole Sapit. He added that Mr Odinga’s decision to move to court was the best way forward.
“We are happy and encouraged that Mr Odinga has the desire to see that peace continues to prevail even as we find ways of determining what exactly happened and getting to know the truth,” said Archbishop Kivuva.
