Outgoing IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati on Monday, January 16, revealed that the previous regime wanted the commission rig in opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Chebukati said the 2022 General Election recorded the highest number of attempts to undermine the commission and the democratic process as a whole.
To evade this, the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, CEO Hussein Marjan, and commissioner Abdi Guliye revealed that they went into hiding for three days after announcing the August 9, presidential elections.
In what appears that Chebukati’s claims are true, Kenya’s President William Ruto on Tuesday, January 17, claimed that there were plans to subvert the democratic will of the people.
Speaking during a meeting with independent commissions at the State House Nairobi, the Head of State confirmed that to there were plans in place to abduct and murder IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati before Raila could be rigged in.
“We know that there was a direct attempt to abduct Wafula Chebukati and murder him so that the commission would be paralyzed, or a compliant commissioner takes over and subvert the people’s sovereignty,” the president said.
Ruto further commended the three IEBC commissioners for standing their ground in upholding their integrity and that of the commission.
“We salute with great admiration the steadfastness, integrity, and leadership through example that Wafula Chebukati provided at the IEBC,
“It is this uncompromising commitment to his constitutional responsibility that enabled Chebukati to lead IEBC,” he added.
Earlier the three commissioners said they went hiding immediately after the IEBC chairman declared William Ruto the president-elect.
“We went into hiding, had to put off our phones, leave them in Bomas, send away our security and we rode in a Toyota Noah to an unknown location. Our only contact with Kenya or the world was the TV, just to check whether you were killing each other or you were celebrating,” IEBC commissioner Abdi Guliye said during the launch of the Post-Election Evaluation Report.
