Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga insists that his victory was stolen in the August presidential election and IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati should be held accountable for allegedly bungling the poll.

Speaking during an interview with a local TV station on Tuesday, December 28, the ODM party leader said Chebukati should be prosecuted for allegedly overseeing electoral fraud and jailed for the same.

Raila made the remarks while defending four embattled commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) under probe over their conduct during the August presidential election.

The four commissioners, led by then Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Masit and Francis Wanderi rejected the results announced by Chebukati on grounds that the final tally was "opaque".

Raila said the commissioners were justified to differ with the IEBC chairman following the manner in which the final tally was conducted, claiming the chairman committed a great "crime against humanity".

"In my view, Mr Chebukati is a criminal who should be prosecuted and sentenced to jail. What he has committed is a great crime against humanity and the people of this country. I strongly believe that he (Chebukati) and not the other four Commissioners should be in the dock," Raila told Citizen TV in an interview aired on Tuesday night.

The four commissioners are said to frantically pushed Chebukati to declare a runoff and order a repeat election after it became clear that Raila had lost.

Cherera, Wanderi and Nyang'aya have since resigned citing lack of confidence in the tribunal led by High Court Judge Aggrey Muchelule. Only Masit has been represented in the hearings of the tribunal.

According to Raila, the presidential campaigns and the activities on the polling day were conducted in a satisfactory manner, save for what he termed as vote rigging at the national tallying centre at Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi. 

“Kenyans voted effectively and the process was fairly smooth, the only issue was to do with presidential elections and this was messed up at the tallying centre,” Raila said.

“For the first time, Kenyans saw an electoral commission that was divided, not in the middle, but four out of seven commissioners disputed the results, meaning a majority of the commissioners said the results were not a reflection of how Kenyans had voted,” he added.

Raila hits out at Supreme Court

Raila also faulted the Supreme Court for dismissing his petition challenging the election of William Ruto as Kenya's fifth President, saying the ruling was a big blow to the country's democratic space.

“It is a tragedy of justice and it was an even bigger tragedy when the Supreme Court confirmed that blatant kind of rigging of elections," the ODM boss said.

“I am not bitter because the elections are not for Raila Odinga, it is for Kenyans. We want an audit of these results so that Kenyans can have confidence come 2027 that they can go to the polls, cast their votes and that their votes will count,” he added.

On claims that Azimio lost the country's top seat over disorganization and failure to deploy agents across the country, Raila said: "You need not have agents. Why should you have to pay agents in all 46,229 polling stations? It is a misnomer, it is something which should not happen. The Commission failed Kenyans and they have continued to fail Kenyans. The blame should be directed where it belongs. Our votes were stolen at the tallying centre not at the polling station. There was nothing wrong on our side. Our campaign was one of the best and the most organised campaign throughout."

Raila also defended former President Uhuru Kenyatta against claims of betrayal in the August poll, saying he got overwhelming support from the former Head of State's Central backyard.

"Uhuru was not supposed to be campaigning for me. I am a politician in my own right and I am capable of campaigning and winning elections and he knows it. He did not use his position as the incumbent President to swing the results in my favour. He didn't use the security forces, he did not give instructions to the police, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), or (the) Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to support me in any way," he said.

"I got a lot of votes in Uhuru’s backyard and that is where most rigging was done. I want to thank the people of Central Kenya for voting for me the way they did. I am very grateful to them for doing that." By Wycliffe Nyamasege, K24