“It is so painful that five years later, we are going through the same problems. We have arrived at a similar situation again,” he lamented.
His running mate in Coalition for Reforms and Democracy — who is also Vice President — Mr Kalonzo Musyoka said he was “seriously hurting” following the outcome of the March 4 presidential polls.
He confessed he was “very angry” and wondered why a body charged with managing elections would fail to do the right thing as mandated by the Constitution and opt to deny Kenyans their democratic right.
“It is amazing that people responsible for conducting credible polls could have allowed things to go wrong,” said the VP. “If indeed they bear any responsibility, they will be part of the country’s sad history.”
The VP stressed CORD has a strong case and is justified to seek legal redress to challenge the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC’s) declaration of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Mr William Ruto as the winning pair.
“As an advocate of the High Court, I believe strongly that we have a case and the Supreme Court will vindicate us,” he stated.
The VP admitted that what transpired pained him so much and he is anxious to know what really happened, adding that he thought issues of flawed elections were a thing of the past with the new Law in place. “If indeed they (IEBC team) bear any responsibility, they will be part of the country’s sad history.”
Raila also took issue with messages IEBC was sending out asking Kenyans to move on with their lives and cautioned that, it can only happen if there is justice.
He said Kenyans want justice in the electoral process, and will pursue it peacefully.
Uhuru was declared winner after IEBC said he had surpassed the 50 per cent mark by garnering 6,173,433 votes. This, IEBC said, worked out to 50.03 per cent of the vote cast, or 4,109 votes over the threshold required for outright victory.
These are the results Raila is challenging over issues to do with manual tallying, failure of electronic transmission and alleged use of several voter registers and registration of 85,000 more voters after closure of the registration period. IEBC showed he got 5,340,546 votes — or 43.28 per cent of the total votes cast.
Raila exuded confidence CORD would emerge triumphant in the case challenging the declaration of Uhuru as the president-elect.
The outgoing Prime Minister said IEBC would “come out more disgraceful” than the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and assured CORD supporters they have a strong case at the Supreme Court.
“The case will demonstrate to Kenyans that what they went through was a total sham,” he added.
He said it was ironical that 1.7 million Kenyan voters decided to vote for the president alone, and ignored five other elective positions that were up for grabs.
Raila recalled the events that followed the 2007 elections and expressed regret that Kenyans were going through the same scenarios again in another election five years down the line.
He explained that after the 2007 elections, he surrendered his “newly-born child to the other women,” but added that dispute this time round was before Biblical King Solomon.
He recalled how a friend called him while he was at the tallying centre at Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi and congratulated him for winning the 2007 elections but informed him that a different person would be sworn in later that evening. “I had won by 600,000 votes but they cooked a figure of 900,000 to declare the other person the winner with a margin of 300,000,” he claimed.
Raila made the remarks during a church service at United Christian Ministries in Dagoretti North constituency, Nairobi. With him were his wife Ida and MPs-elect Ababu Namwamba (Budalangi), Paul Arati (Dagoretti North), Ken Okoth (Kibra) and Millie Odhiambo (Mbita).
Both Uhuru and Raila passed a second condition needed for victory — at least 25 per cent of the vote in more than half of the 47 counties. On Sunday, Raila thanked Kenyans for remaining peaceful even after the presidential results were announced.
“The peace witnessed means our democracy is maturing. We should continue that way,” he advised.
Kalonzo, who spoke after attending Sunday service at Baptist Church, Ngong Road explained that in the “unlikely event” that CORD looses the petition, it would not be the end of the road for them.
Unfortunate events
“We will still serve Kenyans in entirety. We will make use of our numbers at the backbench by forming a strong opposition to keep the government of the day in check,” assured the VP.
He said it was now its up to the Judiciary to unearth the truth.
“We are seeking justice. This is why am solely behind the petition to enable the people know actually what occurred,” he added.
Kalonzo stressed CORDhas confidence in the Judiciary and argued the coalition’s petition was justified.
He at the same time took issue with the unfortunate events of Saturday, where security offices on two occasions used teargas to disperse peaceful procession of CORDsupporters.
“The officers’ actions were against the law,” he said in reference to Saturday’s event where CORD supporters held procession to the Supreme Court in solidarity with their leaders as they filed the petition.
