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Call made for Chebukati to be ‘auctioned’ if Ruto’s win is nullified


Kenyans could soon be drawn into a presidential election petition filed at the Supreme Court of Kenya to challenge the victory of President-elect Dr William Samoei Ruto following the 9 August, 2022, General Election.

Early this week, Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate, Raila Amollo Odinga, said he would file a petition challenging the election results which he termed as “null and void.”

At the center of this dispute is the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, who on Monday declared Dr Ruto president-elect.

Now, 2013 presidential candidate, Mwalimu Abduba Dida, has weighed in on the matter, saying that in the event that the Supreme Court nullifies Ruto’s win, then Chebukati must pay the price.

“If the Supreme Court nullifies the presidential elections, Mr Chebukati must be arrested immediately. His property must also be auctioned to recover the billions lost. This must be done before we think of any new election. Solve the cause not the symptoms,” Dida said.

This year’s election cost Kenyan taxpayers Sh44.6 billion with IEBC spending about Sh 2,000 per voter. Dr Ruto was eventually declared the winner after IEBC spent days verifying results at the national tallying center set up at the Bomas of Kenya.

However, moments before the declaration was made, four of seven IEBC commissioners, led by Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, held a separate press conference and announced that they were disowning the presidential election results.

The four claimed that Chebukati gave the wrong aggregation of results that did not indicate the correct number of registered voters, votes cast and total rejected votes. They also claimed that the generation of the Form 34C used to declare Dr Ruto the victor was processed in an opaque manner.

Following this rejection of results, in which Ruto beat Raila by 233,211 votes, Chebukati later responded to the claims saying the four commissioners were attempting to force a runoff.

Mr Chebukati further said the four wanted him to declare that none of the candidates hit the 50% +1 mark to secure a first round win hence the need for a runoff between Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga – two of the four presidential candidates.

The date for when Azimio will have their day in court is yet to be announced.