Pillar NewsPolitics

NSAC Wanted Us To Announce Raila As President, Or Force A Run-Off – Guliye Tells Tribunal

Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner Abdi Guliye now claims that just hours before announcing the presidential results for August 2022, they were told to declare Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga the winner or face a runoff.

Guliye testified before the tribunal led by Justice Aggrey Muchelule on Monday that on August 15, 2022, hours before announcing the final presidential results, a team of four visitors demanded an audience with all commissioners at around 10:00 a.m.

According to Guliye’s affidavit, the then-chairman Wafula Chebukati acknowledged the summons but had to postpone the meeting until 2:00 p.m. because he was finalizing some vote verification processes.

“They wanted to see the chair and so he said that we will see then but he was first finalizing some verification processes and we would see them at 2 o’clock,” he noted.

Guliye went on to say that at the rescheduled time, Chebukati summoned everyone, including the four visitors, to the Bomas CEO’s boardroom.

“Once we were almost done, the chair had called for a meeting at 2 pm and this was a meeting for commissioners and our anticipation was that the final results would be printed,” he said.

Guliye stated that the four-person team was then introduced, and they stated that they were there on behalf of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC).

The team was led by ex-Principal Administrative Secretary at President Kennedy’s office, Kennedy Kihara. Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, former Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, and Lieutenant General Francis Omondi Ogolla (Vice Chief of Defence Forces) were the three remaining officials.

“I recall after we went in the boardroom the visitors also joined us led by Mr. Kihara and that was the team. They were four in total and he was the only one who spoke. He said they were visiting on behalf of the main committee on NSAC and he stressed that the committee was purposely chosen.”

During the meeting, the commissioners were instructed to name Raila as president or force a runoff.

The commissioners were warned that if they declared Ruto the winner, “the country would burn,” according to Guliye.

“He went on to tell us reasons for their visitation and that if we declare the results in favor of William Ruto the country was going to burn. We were even threatened that should Kenyans begin to fight each other, then the blood of those Kenyans will be in our hands,” he revealed.

“As an alternative then the message was that we should ensure that we have a runoff. They wanted us to announce Hon. Raila. We did not have any results as of that time.”

Kihara then stated that they required an immediate response on the matter, as Chebukati invited all commissioners to share their thoughts.

Guliye informed the tribunal that commissioner Irene Massit, who is on trial, agreed with the proposal.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button