The Azimio coalition presidential candidate voter mobilization squad Mombasa chapter has called for the arrest of IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati.
The political lobby group wants Chebukati arrested for causing confusion which led to chaos during the announcement of the presidential results at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday.
Addressing the media at Mombasa’s Uhuru gardens adjacent to pembe za ndovu, the groups’ patron Lilian Otieno said that the IEBC chair needs to be prosecuted and pay for damages made at the national tallying center.
“Since Chebukati assumed the chairmanship of the electoral body, all elections he has handled have been marred with chaos which leaves more questions than answers,” said Otieno.
She said that they were surprised to hear that Chebukati declared the presidential results from the IEBC portal, yet he had made Kenyans wait for six days while he was doing the verification before releasing the outcome of the presidential poll.
On Monday, the electoral commission chair declared current deputy president William Ruto the president elect after garnering 7,176,141 votes representing 50.49 per cent of total valid votes cast in last week’s general elections.
Ruto beat his arch-rival ODM leader Raila Odinga of the Azimo la Umoja One Kenya coalition who garnered 6,942,930 votes (48.85 per cent).
“It’s embarrassing to note that the same IEBC led by him was reading from two different scripts after the verification exercise of the presidential results in the just concluded general elections”
“What amused us is why he declined to share the final tally of the presidential results with his commissioners and the agents of both presidential candidates before making the announcement,” she said.
Otieno said that Chebukati has repeated the same mistake which led to the nullification of the presidential results by the Supreme Court in 2017 which he failed to abide with.
She said that as a group, they were demanding for the accurate results on form 34 Cs which she said reflects the true presidential tally as required by law and the 2017 Supreme Court judgment.
“It is his arrogance that led to voter apathy which had moved from bad to worse as evident in the just ended polls,” Otieno said.
She also expressed disappointment with the Anglicam Church of Kenya head Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit for praying for and allowing the process to continue even after the polls were disputed and marred with violence.
She said that it was wrong for religious leaders to be partisan.
Sapit has come under sharp criticism since Monday after he led the opening prayers that preceded the announcement of the presidential results on Monday.
This was after Azimio agents protested the results, leading to chaos and confusion that led to a number of high commissioners and other international dignitaries storming out of Bomas after waiting for hours.
“We are sorry to say that the Anglican Church of Kenya’s image has been tainted in their being silent and participating in the declaration of the final presidential tally,” Otieno said.