NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 17 – Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati has told off Azimio Executive Director Raphael Tuju over remarks that he may have been willing to collude in a scheme to manipulate the August 9 General Election.
Tuju, a former Cabinet Secretary without portfolio, had then threatened to make public a CCTV footage of Chebukati and the two commissioners showing what he termed as secret meetings over elections at his Karen house.
“I want Prof. Guliye and Molu to explain what they came to do in my house. I will make the CCTV cameras at my house available,” he said during a press conference on August 28.
In a response to Tuju’s assertions following Azimio’s election loss, Chebukati clarified that the said visit happened in the context of his involvement in a road accident in February 2020 while heading to Kabarak for the burial of former President Daniel arap Moi.
Chebukati said he visited alongside commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu on invitation by Tuju himself.
“The Chairman and Commissioners Prof. Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu were subjected to character assassination by Raphael Tuju who falsely tried to infer an ill motive to a visit to him by the 3 of us when he was involved in a gruesome road accident,” IEBC stated.
Chebukati went on to state that Tuju attempted to exploit the gesture extended to him by the commissioners in order to influence the August 9 presidential election.
“He attempted to take advantage of a benevolent gesture of Commissioners Guliye and Molu visiting him in December 2020 and myself in January 2021 while he was recuperating from his injuries to achieve the malicious end of maligning our image before the public.”
“It is significant to note that these visits were made at his request and upon an understanding that it was purely to empathize with him for the injuries he had sustained,” Chebukati explained.
He termed Tuju’s assertions as part of a targeted tragic incidents, which often verge on criminal responsibility, that cannot be ignored and taken as a sign of the status quo.
Chebukati called for deliberate efforts “confront and address these issues” to ensure that employees may do their tasks without fear of unjust reprisals.
“We must confront and address them in order to secure a conducive environment for staff to discharge their duties without fear of unlawful reprisals,” he said.
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