NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 28 – National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition Presidential candidate Raila Odinga vowed on Wednesday that the coalition will begin countrywide peaceful protests on Friday and Monday in a bid to add pressure on IEBC’s CEO Ezra Chiloba and the secretariat that allegedly bungled the elections not to be part of the repeat polls.
Speaking after meeting with leaders from the Maasai community, he vowed that even though the coalition is ready to participate in the polls, there will be no elections without reforms.
“We have said that we are ready to meet Jubilee Khmundu Khumundu, but we won’t participate in an election whose results are predetermined. That’s why we say no reforms, no elections,” he said.
A visibly annoyed Raila asked why Kenyans should expect the IEBC to do the right thing following the nullification of the August 8th Presidential election results. He said the Maa community who visited him were convinced that the results declared did not reflect their preferences and that leaders were imposed on them
“Their concern, the main issue exercising their mind is the question of what happened to the votes they cast on August 8th.”
“The question the Maa community is struggling with is the same one many other communities are asking; why should Kenyans expect IEBC to do the right thing in October?” he pointed out.
Raila who was accompanied by Elijah Memusi, Kajiado Central Member of Parliament and Moitalel Ole Kenta representing Narok North in the National Assembly gave one example of alleged discrepancies in the Presidential election results.
“One laughable one was a polling station in Narok North called NAITUYUPAKI PRIMARY SCHOOL IN OLOKURTO WARD. There, registered voters were 507. But IEBC records indicate that votes cast for President were 5,527,” Raila pointed out.
“There are very many such cases that only confirm that there were no elections in Kenya in August. As long as IEBC, OT- Morpho, Safaricom, AlGhurair are in charge of elections, nothing will change in October.”
He wondered why President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto are defending the IEBC yet they are also players just like him accusing them of being masters of doublespeak.
“The reason Uhuru and Ruto are defending the IEBC is because they know that is the only team that can steal votes for them,” he said adding that “Uhuru is telling us that IEBC is independent and should be left to do its work. But they are busy attacking judges of the Supreme Court who are also independent.”
He again took a swipe at Safaricom for failing to answer the question the coalition asked but instead bought space in all print media to lament that it is being targeted.
“Yesterday, we said Kenyans are being treated to a huge conspiracy that incorporates local and global players including big businesses. We specifically said Safaricom colluded with OT-Morpho and routed results to servers abroad but made no provision to return those results to Kenya.”
“Safaricom has today bought space in all print media to lament that it is being targeted. The question we asked has not been answered. Did Safaricom route results to server in Paris or anywhere in Europe? Did it route those results back to Kenya?” he asked.
Without mentioning the names of any corporation, Raila threatened that the coalition would soon resort to radical ways of dealing with big corporations he claimed are part and parcel of killing of democracy in Kenya.
“We will not allow Kenya to be the playground for forces that want to stifle our progress as a nation. In fact, we are considering beginning a period of economic boycott of products and corporations that are working against the interests of the people of Kenya,” he affirmed.