General elections 2022: Kioni unearths ‘dossier’ pointing to Raila win

Former Ndarangua lawmaker Jeremiah Kioni sensationally claimed on Wednesday Azimio presidential candidate won last year’s presidential race despite lacking evidence to support his claim.



Kioni who is Secretary General of the former ruling party Jubilee, a constituent member of Azimio, said Raila Odinga won with 8,170,355 votes.



He cited an unverified whistleblower report which purported to outline how rigging and manipulation was done to overturn the will of the people.



Kioni stated that there were discrepancies between the verified presidential results from 144 constituencies and those declared at the Bomas of Kenya by the electoral commission.



He claimed President William Ruto was a distant second with 5,915,973 votes representing 41.66 percent of the votes cast.



“Most of the manipulation that was done happened in the Mt. Kenya region,” he said.



Despite his assertion, Kioni said results from 59 per cent of the country’s 290 constituencies could not be verified “with absolute certainty”.



“We have maintained that the results announced by Chebukati didn’t reflect the will of Kenyans. The results were manipulated and what was present to Kenyans was far from the truth,” he said.



The Azimio coalition did not pronounce its next course of action following the revelation as Odinga, its de facto leader, is out of the country.



Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta who marshalled over dozens parties to craft the alliance has shown little interest in leading the formation since Ruto’s inauguration.



Kioni however promised further action in the coming days.



“A comprehensive statement will be issued by our party leader and I ask that you take time to go through the report. This is a sad moment for us as a country. The way forward will be communicated,” the former Ndaragwa MP said.



Kioni’s statement market the first attempt by Azimio to cling on its alleged victory after the Supreme Court squashed the petition by Odinga seeking to invalidate the Ruto’s win terming it as ‘hot air’.



Chebukati murder plot



It comes hot on heels of President Ruto’s revelations on Tuesday of an apparent plot to kidnap and murder IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati to overthrow the popular will of Kenyan voters.



Ruto who hosted members of independent commissions said unnamed individuals wanted Chebukati out of the way so that a faction led by Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera could take over.



He said the faction had instructions to support Odinga.



President Ruto said the plan to subvert the will of the people was hatched by senior politicians way before the August 9, 2022 presidential election and it started with what he described as skewed hiring of four commissioners who attempted to stonewall Chebukati’s declaration.



The plot, according to the Head of Stated, involved infiltrating the commission by planting the four breakaway commissioners, use of blackmail, threats, abductions, extortion and intimidation of various IEBC officials, so as to have a preferred candidate declared the winner.



Ruto said the plotters had calculated to eliminate Chebukati if he resists bribery and intimidation in what could have incapacitated the commission and potentially rendered the outcome of the election a nullity.



Other than vesting powers to declare the outcome of a presidential election in the Chairperson of IEBC, the law requires that election results are declared within seven days of voting.



“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 commission to take over and subvert the people’s sovereignty,” President Ruto stated.



President Ruto commended the conduct of IEBC during the 2022 General Election, specifically Chebukati, CEO Hussein Marjan and commissioners Moya Bolu and Abdi Guliye.



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