On Thursday, December 27, 2007, the voting process in Kenya went on without major problems save for a few hitches here and there. Raila was himself faced with a situation where he couldn’t vote because his name was missing from the voter’s register at his Lang’ata Constituency. But after Kivuitu intervened, Raila was able to vote. Throughout the voting process, there was no huge documentation of cases where voters could not cast their votes or where circumstances made it difficult or impossible for the voting process to proceed. However, there are several reports to the effect that ODM Party agents, local and International observers were blocked from entering polling stations. In 42 constituencies, “presiding officers at polling stations refused to make Form 16A available for signature by agents verifying counting” while at some polling stations, ODM agents were not allowed to enter. 377 There were cases in which fake ballot papers were intercepted by Wananchi as candidates tried to smuggle them into the official ballot boxes.
A key example is the case of Kajiado North where the brother of Professor George Saitoti, former Vice President in Moi’s government, had to be shielded by police from angry voters who claimed that he was caught red-handed trying to smuggle votes into the voting room. On the whole, the voting process was passed by local and international observers as having been smooth by democratic standards. Some Kenyans began to line up at the polling stations as early as three AM. After the votes were cast and Kenyans retreated to their homes to begin following the tallying process and announcement of results, trepidation set in especially when it became clear that election was being rigged in favour of Kibaki and his PNU Party. The results were being communicated live on TV and some of the scenes that were witnessed at KICC strongly pointed to the fact that something had gone terribly wrong. But how exactly was Raila’s Presidency stolen before the very eyes of Kenyans and the international community?
According to a compilation of irregularities by an ODM investigative Committee, (378) local observers, (379) international election monitors and independent groups that were also monitoring the process, there were several cases of shocking irregularities. For example, Constituency results were not physically brought in at the tallying centre at KICC, returning officers were threatened against making results, signatures of Party agents were missing from relevant documents such as Form16A, returning officers completed the forms at KICC while there were cases where results were announced at KICC when tallying was still going on at the Constituency. (380) Ms Koki Muli, who led a team of local observers and who testified at the Kriegler Commission, told the Commission that she saw ECK officials changing figures and added that “Some returning officers arrived and were allowed to fill in official forms to align them with figures that had been announced.”(381) Further, “She (Muli) said that she witnessed presentation of photocopies of Form 16A, which were readily accepted by the ECK contrary to regulations which stipulates that only original forms filled by all agents are acceptable… She said some of the returning officers arrived at the national tallying centre without documents and their explanation was that they had handed them over to district electoral cocoordinators.(382)
In some cases, Form 16A that was being sent from polling stations were either unsigned or signed by the same person using the same pen.(383) Another glaring observation was that results that were announced at the Constituency and that were recorded by ODM agents were different from those that were announced at KICC by ECK officials.(384) In several other cases, the Presidential ballot was higher than the Parliamentary ballot,(385) an indication that results had been tampered with. In some cases, the final results were thousands more than the valid votes registered as having been cast.(386) As had been outlined in the previous chapter, results contained in Form 16A are supposed to be the same as those in Form 17A but in many situations, this was not the case. In certain dramatic cases, Form 16A could not be traced even though results from affected Constituencies had already been announced by ECK at KICC.(387) When stakeholders began to ask questions, returning officers simply disappeared when asked about irregularities related to results they are supposed to have filed.(388) In the most serious cases, Form 16A was altered and votes inflated in favour of Kibaki.(389)
Available documents from ECK, ODM, Election observer groups and other parties indicate that the biggest rigging took place at Juja polling station number 100 where 52,097 votes were added to Kibaki’s votes by ECK officials who altered Form 16A dated December 28, 2007, that was delivered by Returning Officer Watson Mahinda at the Constituency level and indicated that Kibaki had received 48,293 votes.(390) This is the same figure ODM agents recorded at the Constituency before the figure was publicly announced there. The Mahinda Report, which is signed by Mahinda himself, contains a long list of provisional results for both Presidential and Parliamentary candidates.(391)
A careful scrutiny of Form 16A that were used to rig the Juja vote could give a clue about the internal mechanism of the rigging machine by ECK officials at KICC and shed some light on how the stealing of Raila’s Presidency was organized and implemented before Kibaki was secretly installed as President. The original Juja results in the original Form 16A that came from the Constituency were received at KICC by Agnes Kisero (ID no. 6057692) who acknowledged their receipt by signing for them at 5.30 PM sharp.(392)
When these results arrived at KICC, a new Form 16A was issued by ECK officials and Kibaki’s votes was inflated from 43,290 to 100,390 after which the same official, Watson Mahinda (ID No. 3346925), allegedly signed the altered form.(393) Mahinda’s telephone number on the altered form was given as 0728458093. A key difference in details contained in the two forms is that after Form 16A was altered to show that Kibaki got 100,390 votes which was announced by ECK, a different ECK official named Catherine W. Mburu is the person whose name appears as the officer who “received” the results.(394). Other key differences are that the name “Mahinda” which appears on the original Form 16A at Juja, is miss-spelt to read “Mahiga”, the signature is overtly different in the two forms while the altered form is hand-written as opposed to the original form which is computer generated. What this shows is that ECK officials were consciously collaborating to rig elections by internally receiving results after they had been handed over by returning officers with the sole objective of changing them. In the case of Juja, it could be safe to conclude that the ECK officer who may have altered the results in Kibaki’s favour was Catherine W. Mburu because there is no other logical explanation as to why figures, changes in spelling of the name of the Juja Returning Officer and an alteration of Mahinda’s signature in the Juja Form 16A became apparent after it was handled by her. Although the original Form 16A submitted by Mahinda indicate that the results were signed at KICC on December 27, 2007, at 5.30 PM, the time and date changed to 8.30 AM and December 28, 2007, respectively when a new Form 16A was issued and received by Catherine Mburu. After the first results were received for this Constituency, ECK officials had more than fifteen hours to change the results which was then announced!
Another interesting difference is that at the bottom of the original Form 16A signed by Mahinda, information exists to the effect that the form was printed on December 28, 2007, a day after the ballot was cast. In the altered Form 16A signed by Catherine, the date when the form was printed is December 26, 2007, a day before elections and two days before the Mahinda form was printed. A big question that has to be posed is why ECK officials at the tallying centre had Form 16A in their custody and where they got them because their work had nothing to do with entering results in Form 16A after voting but dealing with results after they were submitted from the Constituency. Where did they get these forms? The implication is that the forms that ECK officials were using to manipulate figures in Kibaki’s favour were printed BEFORE elections and what can be logically deduced from this glaring discrepancy is that the rigging at KICC might have been planned or anticipated. In the same manipulation at Juja, Raila’s votes were increased by 7,671, that is, from 6,081 to 13,752 votes. The increase in Raila’s votes was of no significance as Kibaki’s votes had been increased sevenfold. In the case of Juja, both the Presiding Officer and the Returning Officer refused to avail Form 16A to ODM agents at KICC while they also refused to avail copies of these forms at the Constituency as stipulated by law. I wish to argue that the reason why ECK officials refused to follow the law by refusing to avail Form 16A to ODM agents is that they were privy to or were aware that elections were going to be rigged and availing the forms could have worked against this objective.
In Embakasi, Presidential votes cast were more than the total number of Parliamentary votes cast. Total Presidential votes cast was 141,125 while total Parliamentary votes cast was 103,570. According to ODM’s results recorded by ODM agents, observers and other sources at Embakasi constituency which was also publicly announced, Kibaki got 34,821 votes which were inflated by ECK at the constituency level to 72,376 395 votes which were later released by ECK at KICC. Here, Raila’s votes stood at 50,001 which was announced at both the constituency and at KICC. In other words, Raila defeated Kibaki at Embakasi but ECK overturned this result to give Kibaki the lead. An ODM investigative Committee Report on Election rigging indicated that a total of 37,555 votes were added to Kibaki’s votes. The argument is that it is unlikely that over 37,000 voters could have turned up to vote at the Presidential level and not at the Parliamentary level because, according to regulations, both votes are supposed to be cast at the same time.
The same pattern of rigging was used at Nithi where 29,348 votes were added to Kibaki’s votes from 66,345 (396) to 95,693. (397) In this case, the returning officer refused to avail Form 16A to ODM agents at the close of polling and counting(398) and this was understandable given the huge number of votes that had been stolen and added to Kibaki to give him victory. It is instructive that this same case of rigging was emotionally alluded to by Henry Kosgey at the press briefing room at KICC. Kosgey asked Kivuitu how 66,000 votes could suddenly turn to 95,000 (399) after passing through the ECK’s tallying room but Kivuitu opted not to respond directly to the question. At this same Constituency, the total Presidential votes cast was 99,006, a figure that exceeded the total number of Parliamentary votes, which stood at 95,981. To give Kibaki an advantage, 3,025 votes were added to Kibaki’s votes on top of the total votes cast. (400). To be continued…
Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: pages 279-283: Excerpts from Chapter Sixteen: “How Raila Odinga’s Presidency was Stolen”
About the Author
This is very true i followed this stories live on tv i could not belive and seeing Martha Karua forcing kivuitu to annouce that Kibaki was the winner. I salute Hon. Ruto and Hon Orengo they reallynpleaded with Kivuitu not to annouce what he knew practicallythat was untrue. Am happy that he suffered and died miserably.
KSB: It was “Die Kivuitu, die”.
REFLECTIONS FROM THE POOR: MY FINAL MESSAGE TO CENTRAL ‘NATION’…IN SO LONG A LETTER
Facebook newsfeed post by: George Odhiambo Okeyo
‘YOU CAN CHOOSE TO AMEND THE HISTORY OR STAY WITH IT…BUT IT WILL HAUNT YOU.’
Dear Grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters of the land of Mukuru wa Gathanga, the slopes of mount Kirinyaga, I greet you in the name of your great seer Mugo wa Kabiru, and more so in the name of Peace love and unity of Kenya.
I would first ask for apology before I tell my story. I would humbly request that even if you so much feel offended, please respect my reflections for there might be truth in it.
As we stand on the banks of the river Jordan, we scan yonder and see the Promised Land, just few ours before this historic elections in Kenya under the new constitution. We much pose and ponder back as from whither we come.
Among you I share blood relations, among you I have adopted children, among you I have nurtured and raised and educated your blood plus others just like they were mine, among you I have true friends and business associates. But somehow you may still view me as an ‘outsider’, and use that old saying that the ‘oil of the homestead is not for smearing on strangers.’ Well I may be, but what I know is that I share with you this beloved country called our mother land Kenya. Thus we are one and just like Siamese twins; nothing to do us part till death.
It has been a tumultuous journey I took with you since I came to know my left hand from the right. And from the onset, your characters have been bewildering. While others have paid a bigger prices and sacrificed their even heir own lives for you and you people to raise to the top most leadership positions, you have always reverted to your ethnic cocoon when it is your time to pass on the baton. At the onset of independent one gallant son of the land the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga looked the devil in the eye and told him, ‘No Kenyatta, No independence; yet over the other side Kadu with the former president Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi and his cohorts were ready to move on with Kenya even without Kenyatta. But sooner the mafia got hold of Mzee and Kenya has never been the same again. Not only did the dreams of your very own Mau Mau of fighting for land killed, the uhuru spirit that ushered in the new Kenya was banished. What followed were gruesome deaths and disappearances of prominent politicians who dared to oppose your man in the big house. Then Tom Mboya was to pay the price of standing with you in the 60s but due to his ambitions he never saw the light of day of that dream of a united Kenya.
In the late 70s when it was evident the life of mzee was quickly running out, your people led by the late cantankerous politician Kihika Kimani made sure the life of the then vice president Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi was made miserable noting that naturally and going by the constitution, he was the heir -apparent to the throne. What we are seeing today and in the past two years of whistle campaigns about your Son and brother and our son and brother too Uhuru Kenyatta and The Hague issue and the Kimemias of this world is akin to the many campaigns orchestrated by State House operatives who were opposed to Moi ‘an outsider’ taking over when mzee had gone to push the daisies down under. The chorus was so loud and most prominently to change the contituntion to bar Moi. Just like then with Moi, today you see a common Enemy in Raila. But truth be told, yours is, anybody outside the GEMA nucleus is treated as an enemy with the last ‘A’- Akamba being treated as a bastard in the family. Somehow Moi took over and indeed he had his terrible sins that culminated to the abortive 82, coup but no sooner had he settled in power than you ran back to your tribal trenches. If anybody says Moi was a dictator then part of the cause was to do with how to outmaneuver your people who kept seeing him as unfit to rule: Moi was doing that for survival on your onslaught!
Along the line in 1985 you planted, water and cultivated the seed of an amorphous group that thrived under your noses with your full blessings in the name of Mungiki, then you saw it as the ultimate solution to the challenges you had seen under Moi but somehow. But then it grew bigger than your houses and mutated to something else which your very own politicians have manipulated over and over for their own egocentrism. If today someone tells you that Mungiki is in CORD simply because of Maina Njenga, he lying to you through the teeth. Mungiki over the years went through metamorphosis and into splinter groups just like the Hamas in Palestine and the Somali factions. But the core is still somewhere run by the same politicians.
When the was the clamor for change in the early 90’s, little did we know that you had a different agenda until the late Michuki let the cat out of the bag that you did indeed not want true constitutional change, that what you wanted was how to get Moi out. Phew! Back to the Kihika kimani play so it was to finish the game that had started! So by Raila declaring ‘Kibaki Tosha,’ to you he was just getting into your trap to fulfill the ambition of getting back to power.
In 2002 you treated Kibaki with disdain while the rest of the country stood with him even as he was in wheel chairs. Nothing can be compared with the zeal with which Raila Amollo Odinga campaigned for Kibaki bringing under his wings ‘mama Rainbow’ Charity Kaluki Ngilu, Moody Awori, Kalonzo Musyoka, the late Wamalwa Kijana, the late Saitoti, Mukhisa kituyi, Jmaes Orengo. But to you it was a win-win situation whether it was Uhuru or Kibaki. Through you pretended not to like Kibaki but your true selves came out when the infamous ‘mount Kenya Mafia took over the state house. You know what happened to date. When between 2005 and 2008, it was evident another man from another tribe was about to take over, you went back to your old tricks, machinations and dirty tricks became the Nome that finally culminated to the dark hour in o lives of 2007. Somehow you could not just let this thing called power go to another tribe.
Just recently one Musalia Mudavadi tried to come in through Uhuru’s own invitation, what did you do? You threw tantrums and threatened Uhuru about Bondo not that you love the man from Bondo, only that your man was not going to be in the ballot. When it came to integrity case you people did the same and Kbando wa Kabando said as much and so the letter to the CJ the other day was not a surprise to many; we saw it coming (don’t buy into the report of the team investigating for if a bank was broken into and all the robbers were policemen, who will trace the thieves?). I can bet with you that even if Uhuru were to let Ruto to be the presidential candidate as he had hinted earlier in a campaign in Rift Valley, you would have deserted Ruto like a leper and one either to Peter Kenneth or Martha Karua. The G8, G7 charade that was being assembled was to have the seven or whatever number sing for one man: Prince Uhuru. The truth is: Uhuru is held hostage by your insatiable hunger for power.
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Raila Amollo Odinga, Martin Shikuku, Anyona, Orengo, Anyang Nyongo, Kenneth Matiba, Paul Muite, Rumba Kinuthia, Koigi wa wamwere, Martha Karua, Kiraitu Murungi, Timothy Njoya and many more are those who today make us smile for the dawn with the new constitution. Could it be that these men were to you just part of a grand scheme to make sure your tribes cling on to power for ever and ever?
What is it that you want to hide that has made you so fixated with power to the point you become an island on your own when it comes to elections. Don’t you feel for others who have the ability to run this country? Now you are telling me Uhuru is going to create jobs for youth, I am not against Uhuru but this is leadership, for ten years you have held it, who by the way was the president? Kibaki your own, why couldn’t he create the jobs for the youth all those ten years? If you tell me that the union between Uhuru and Ruto where Uhuru is the leader is to bring peace between the two communities, then You are telling me that the two communities have not reconciled themselves that makes me wonder: what should happen if the two are not there or tighter, you kill each other: Then your definition of peaceful co-existence is warped.
Doesn’t require the squatters to invade someone idle land and political shoving for him or her to realizes the after all there others who need the land more than him even if he just inherited it knowing very well it was not acquired in a proper manner but on the basis of the haves and the have-nots not the so peddled willing -buyer, willing- seller’ Your siege mentality is quite worrying and a dangerous preposition for the well being of a united country. You seem to have the mentality of the Hitler’s Germans’ of super race: that others are dirt that suffocates you and are so inferior that you can’t fathom them leading you leave alone living above the ground with you. Yours is only a perfect world where you own is at the helm all through.
When a tree fell the other day you offered all manner of interpretations to suits you egos, some old folks even offered to carry a scarify to bless the young generations or so they claimed. Well I may not be old but I will tell a few things, my literature teacher one Dr. Simon Peter Otieno, my grand pa the late the James, the late grand ma, Pesila Nyongwany Alolo we just buried last October 2012 without knowing her true age and my lecturer taught me for free. You all got it wrong. If we were to interpret the event strictly in the context of the country, the truth you feared to here is: power is falling out of you hands like Nebuchadnezzar and you ‘aint do nothing about it.’
And as we move toward these elections I want to earnestly challenges you to rise tot the occasion and prove me wrong. Foster peace, unity and development by also giving a chance to the ‘outsider’ to lead. Even thought it is true charity begins at home, but dear people, your charity began a stayed home, hell it has stuck home, it have never pretended even to crawl towards the gate!
When your orphan needed education, some of us gave with open hands, when some of them needed foster parents we never asked from which tribe they are and what kind of blood they have but we gave them the home they needed away from mount Kirinyaga. When your widows sought assistance, some ‘outsiders’ never talked of ‘Nyumba’ but rolled out their sleeves and worked their body out to provide the little they have and shared with your needy, I know some of you are doing the same but on very little scale I can say for even in your employment you choose to give your ‘own’ first.
Finally I ask you to me magnanimous enough to move the beyond the rhetoric and the fear of the unknown and vote for a united Kenya not a ‘united two-tribes’. Be at peace with each other and accept that you too can be behind while other lead.
GOD BLESS YOU GOD BLESS KENYA
Yours Faithfully
‘THE POOR’
Cc:
URP, TEAM UHURU, UHURU KENYATTA, WILLIAM RUTO
VIJANA NA UHURU
In Pictures: Kenya’s Blood and Tears
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/1305664/-/yxodk9z/-/index.html
Election fraud whistle blower on the run
Published on March 23, 2008, 12:00 am
By Josh Maiyo
A team has been sworn-in to look at how the Electoral Commission of Kenya handled the General Election last year.
As the team gets down to business, one man remains on the run for having blown the whistle on breach of rules during the tallying of presidential results.
Mr Kipkemoi arap Kirui became a marked man immediately he addressed a press conference.
On December 27, last year, shortly before the presidential poll results were announced, one man —whose actions could either be described as courageous or sheer foolishness — came out in the full glare of local and international media.
He confessed anomalies were taking place at ECK offices at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi.
But immediately he addressed a press conference, Mr Kipkemoi arap Kirui became a marked man. Tension was high, nobody trusted the other and as fast as he came into the limelight, he disappeared.
What followed after were events akin to a James Bond movie.
In his address to the world, Kirui said: “I am speaking to the people of Kenya. My conscience would not allow me to see what I have seen and not speak about it. ECK is responsible for this mess. They (results) are altered here, not in the field. Form 16A is sufficient.”
Kirui had been mandated with tallying the results on Form 16A brought by returning officers while the Information Technology section would key-in changes for confirmation and signing by tallying officers.
“I did it for the first time but could not proceed to the second constituency because of shameless, blatant, open alteration of documents presented by the returning officers. My conscience would not allow me to sit and keep quiet,” Kirui explained.
He added: “I have gone public because it is important to do so. . .for heaven’s sake let us have a fair tallying process.”
Kirui says of his action then: “It mattered to me that my coming out would make a difference and I am convinced that it did. When I went to KICC to address the press, the situation was already tense; the paramilitary police had surrounded the place. I was sure a bullet would go through my head any time.”
Kirui then believed his intervention would save the situation. He thought the ECK Chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, would nullify the elections and order a recount.
“I was convinced some action would be taken but little did I know that President Mwai Kibaki was preparing to be sworn in at the same time,” he recalls.
As a tallying supervisor, Kirui was responsible for the vote tallying process for one of 10 regions comprising 21 constituencies. This involved supervising junior staff who were meant to be in direct contact with returning officers at the constituency level, to receive and tally poll results by phone, verify them via faxed copies of original documents and finally confirm them by receiving the actual physical copies of original documents (Form 16A) countersigned by presiding officers and polling agents at the polling stations before the results could be announced by the commission chairman.
No verification
What transpired, however, was total confusion – a breach of the laid down procedures. Kirui says there was complete disregard for verification and proper and accurate documentation of the results. There was deliberate manipulation of the entire process, says Kirui.
He says none of the tallying and data entry officials recruited by the Electoral Commission of Kenya received adequate training on how to handle the exercise.
He argues the recruitment exercise continued to the very last minute. People were literally being recruited from the streets.
“They had school leavers from the streets joining the ECK tallying teams. I thought it was questionable, not because they didn’t know what to do but because they came very late, totally untrained and unprepared. We were then, as team leaders, asked to train people yet we didn’t receive any training ourselves.”
Kirui feels that the Independent Review Committee into the conduct of the elections should focus on structural weaknesses in the ECK that led to such a high level of incompetence.
“The level of incompetence could be seen right from the junior officers picked from the streets and put to do the job right away —seeing the forms and documents for the first time, without any training — to the highest officials and supervisors who seemed not to understand their roles and duties,” he explains.
He says: “The lack of organisation and lack of training was not just a failure to plan; it was a deliberate move to create chaos and confusion to manipulate the process easily.”
It was these glaring systemic weaknesses that allowed deliberate manipulation of the tallying process, he says.
Despite the real fear that it could well cost him his life, he felt that it was important to tell Kenyans what was going on in the tallying hall shortly before the presidential results were announced.
“I went public because of what I saw in Rwanda: The consequence of denying and robbing the people of their basic democratic rights, against a situation where you have skeletons of more than 250,000 people buried in one grave,” he says.
He recalls his trip to Rwanda: “At some stage, I saw the skeleton of a baby, almost 40 centimetres, with diapers still on and the skull had a big hole in it…you ask yourself how and why that level of animal behaviour could happen?”
He adds: “I saw our country sliding down that road and I knew I had to do something to prevent that slide, the certain and horrifying prospect of the consequence of a presidency being snatched from a winner. I could see that the country was already in a tense trance. I thought we were getting drunk, and I could see a slaughter and serious massacres 40 or so hours later. It could have been worse.”
But with this, he put his life on the line. With help from friends, Kirui managed to get out of the country. He had been warned, he says, by friends in the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) that there were people looking for him and that his life was in danger.
Fled the country
Kirui’s contacts in the police and NSIS had warned him that certain sections of the police were hunting him down and that his best hope was to leave the country.
With that information, he sought help from all possible sources considered friendly. He even talked to a few embassies and high commissions within Nairobi.
Some diplomats suggested that he leaves through Sudan, but the national airspace was under tight surveillance then and small aircrafts from every single airstrip in the country were grounded.
The only option was to leave by road. Uganda was at the time suspected to be supporting President Kibaki. That left Tanzania as the least risky of the available options.
How he was going to leave remained a big question.
Two days after his press appearance, Kirui called this writer in the dead of the night. The writer could tell he was clearly shaken and scared. He said he needed help to leave the country. He asked for any contacts with any foreign embassy that might be willing to help.
I made some phone calls and put him in touch with an embassy official I knew, and so began his extraordinary flight through Tanzania to Europe.
It was not easy leaving Nairobi. His two daughters aged 10 and 12 were upcountry, visiting his parents. His wife could not immediately leave with him as she had to fetch the girls from the village.
He was worried about leaving them behind, but knew he would be no use to them at home in death. He was comforted by the assurance that they would join him soon. According to him, many friends in the civil society and more than one foreign mission came to his rescue.
First, he took refuge in different ambassadorial residences. He was then taken to record a statement and swear an affidavit before a commissioner of oaths before eventually planning an escape route.
What followed was a harrowing 18-hour drive from Nairobi under the cover of darkness and disguise, through the Namanga border via Arusha to Dar es Salaam.
A week after he went underground, he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Well wishers in Kenya immediately organised an air ticket for him and after being holed up in an embassy in Dar es Salaam, he was driven straight to Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Airport where he took his overnight flight to safety.
Currently in his country of refuge, Kirui is now a student of human rights.
By Kipkemoi Arap Kirui
STATEMENT
My name is Kipkemoi arap Kirui, 40 years on January 24th. I am a Clerk Assistant at the National Assembly working at the Table Office. I am a lawyer.
This is my statement of activities that took place at the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s National Election Centre at the Kenyatta International Conference, Nairobi in December 2007 during the nomination and voting exercise.
I am writing this statement on January 2, 2008 in hiding. I am not able to lay my hands on a number of documents which would provide further evidence of the irregularities that I witnessed during the vote tallying exercise.
Sometimes late in November 2007, after I proceeded on my annual leave, I received telephone and later written instructions from Principal Clerk, Mrs. Consolata Munga, on behalf of the Clerk of the National Assembly assigning me duties at the Electoral Commission of Kenya to assist in the General Elections Nomination Exercise and later at the National Tallying Centre after the voting was concluded.
The nomination exercise was orderly. At least at the ECK nominations processing centre. I was in charge of Coast and Nairobi. Though I was apprehensive about Lang’ata and Kamukunji constituencies, the exercise went on smoothly.
On December 19, 2007 I got another phone call from Mr. Mutungi a colleague from the National Assembly Hansard Department asking me to report at the KICC. He told me that I had been assigned the duties of a Team Leader of Team II (Night Duty). I was at my home in Western Kenya. I took a bus the next day for Nairobi. I arrived the same evening and reported at the KICC National Tallying Centre. Work had not started. So I proceeded to my residence to rest. I reported to work early on December 21st and found a slow briefing process going on. The officers in charge of staff were a Mr. Simon Njoroge Inegene (a nice gentleman I later learned was a Human Resource Officer with the ECK, and effectively in charge of staff at the venue temporarily hired by ECK for the election exercise), and others were Mr. Njogu, Mr. Laichena, Mr. Koech and Mr. Chepsat who I never got to interact with so much except in their course of issuing instructions. They took us through some briefing.
The staff at the National Tallying Centre were largely school leavers and students in colleges in town. They were handpicked by officials from ECK. The briefing process was haphazard and wanting in many ways. Recruitment of staff continued until the eve of the Election Day.
Duties: I was made the Deputy Team Leader of Team II (Night) under a Mr. Chris Musyoka. Things later changed and a Mr. Malonza was posted. He never stayed long and a Mr. Njuguna was posted as Team Leader. At one time on the night of 28th Mr. Njuguna admitted to the team that he did not understand what he was expected to do. He asked that I assist. I was already apprehensive because around this time, a number of my colleagues who were in other teams were smelling mischief. We went round whispering. It was tense. We were expected to make calls to Returning Officers (ROs) to start receiving preliminary results where vote counting had been concluded.
For the Presidential Elections, the ROs must deliver physical copies of the statutory declarations. The ROs are not empowered to vary results declared at the tallying level. Most of the ROs had been allocated satellite phones, mobile phones and adequate airtime for the exercise. They also had Fax machines. Each Team at the KICC also had five telephone/fax lines. The process was supposed to be smooth. We were supposed to have received the preliminary results by midnight.
I was in charge of Galole, Bura, Lamu West, Lamu East, Taveta, Wundanyi, Mwatate, Voi, Dujis, Lagdera, Fafi, Ijara, Wajir North, Wajir South, Wajir West, Wajir East, Mandera West, Mandera East, Moyale, North Horr, Saku and Laisamis constituencies as a Deputy Team Leader (Night).
On the night of the 28th we sat for long hours without any call from the Returning Officers. We attempted to call them one by one. There were 21 constituencies under my charge. There was no response until about five in the morning when some who sounded sleepy and uncooperative refused to give any information saying they had nothing to give. They would then hang up. Some rendered themselves completely unreachable. I left work at 7.00 am. Concerned.
I left the Hall to find strong General Service Unit (GSU) police officers within the building on every floor and outside the building arranged a metre a part round City Hall Way, Parliament Road, Harambee Avenue and Taifa Road. They had sophisticated weapons, namely, powerful machine guns, grenades and teargas canisters. [It was a scene of tension building up typical of what I saw in the famous movies ‘Hotel Rwanda and ‘100 Days’.
I must also indicate here that I had accompanied officials of the KNCHR and Kenyan Members of Parliament to Rwanda in 2004 on what I regarded as a ‘pilgrimage to conscience’. I still went back to Rwanda in 2006. I decided to commit myself to the course of human rights and justice]. I went to sleep. I did not have a wink. I watched the news coming in in consternation. The results were coming in too slowly.
I took some light lunch and proceeded to work at 5.00 pm. I never used my car. Matatus were hard to come by. So I left early. I alighted at the Times Tower bus stage and walked up the few metres to KICC Harambee Avenue gate. It was barricaded by the GSU. I was asked to go round to the City Hall Way gate. It took me around twenty minutes to get through the GSU stops and questioning (This would ordinarily take a minute). I got to the office at 7.15pm.
December 29th. It was tense. The day staff had left in a huff. Never handed over to me. They handed over to my new Team Leader. Constituencies received: Lamu East, Lamu West, Wundanyi and Dujis. The statutory documents Forms 16A, 17 and 17A did not accompany them. I refused to deal with them. For most of the night, we kept calling the ROs. The Ijara, Galole, Wundanyi and Dujis statutory documents were never received at all.
Why? The Day Team Leaders responsible did not sign for receiving them. They left it to us. Form 16As had not arrived. There was word going round that we do not accept results without Form 16A because my colleagues doubted the incoming data. Work stopped until around midnight when one sleepy looking guy was ushered in. He was from Moyale. He started with a quick doze. He did not have his Forms 16A, 17 and 17A. I asked him to rest while I consulted. I talked to a Mr. Chepsat who advised that I do not receive the results. I did not. Hours later Chairman Kivuitu would be going public with Moyale results.
After Moyale, we received Saku and Laisamis. No Forms 16A, 17 and 17A again. I refused to receive them. My Team Leader went ahead to receive them nonetheless. ECK Chairman went ahead to announce them. The figures were in a number of instances overstated. I was perturbed. There is no reason why the ROs did not get back to us with the statutory documents three days after the vote tallying at the constituency.
My colleagues informed me of reduction and suppression of results in some constituencies. This is when I raised the alarm. I hit the roof. I pulled my Team Leader Mr. Njuguna aside and I started by saying “My brother, this is an important national exercise. I am concerned that we are not following the law and we are letting down Kenyans …” He told me that he was recommending to his bosses that I be removed because I was proving difficult. He actually went ahead to report me to a Mr. Koech who dismissed him and asked him to cooperate and work with me. He went back to the work station. I came back to find him addressing the team members. I informed them that I regarded the work we were doing as an important national exercise and it demanded patriotism and a non partisan approach to issues. I told him that I demanded his respect and cooperation. He said I should leave if I so wished. I left in a huff…
I feared for my life. I never took the matter up with ECK Commissioners.
The truth about the Naivasha killings
By Odhiambo T. Oketch
I have been to Naivasha on two occasions to help evacuate some of my relatives who were victims of the violence that took place in Naivasha.
The first time, we did not get the gory details of what took place, and I bet, the press is afraid of bringing some of these planned murders and killings in Naivasha to the fore.
We must have the courage to face the truth and confront the same, then talk of the healing process. If we sweep this under the rug, we are doing nothing.
Politicians and administrative officers involved
The Naivasha Massacre was planned in complicity with government agencies. The police were informed, and they only brought officers who were not armed to confront the murderous Mungiki (banned militia) team.
The DC (District Commissioner) was in the picture, as some of the politicians who had lost in the recent general elections. They were well coordinated by donations from some current cabinet ministers and the pangas (machetes) that they used were bought at the Shamba Hardware store in Naivasha town.
When the Mungiki were to strike on the January 27, 2008, the prison warders came out and thwarted all their moves. They retreated so that orders could be made to bar the prison warders from coming out in support of non-Kikuyus who were the target.
When they struck the second time, they were under police escort, and they specifically killed Luos, in a systematic way. They torched their houses and chased them like rats in town.
When the Luo organized themselves to hit back, the police shot at the them instead. This went on for three days. Within this time, the Mungiki murderers were housed at LakeSide and Silver Hotels.
They used to come to town at 6:00 am, reign terror until 6:00 pm when they retreated to their hotels to brief their paymasters, chief among them former and current MPs.
The Naivasha Massacre of the Luos was well planned in a meeting attended by politicians like Uhuru Kenyatta and Jayne Kihara among others, and top businessmen such as Chris Kirubi, Jimna Mbaru, and George Muhoho.
They were annoyed that it is the Luo who had made things elephant for them. They hence came up with a plan that hitting at the Luo would be the best thing. They did not look at the fact that it is the Kalenjin who removed them mostly from the Rift Valley. They thought that it was the Luo who had made the Kalenjin do that.
Biased Red Cross and Mungiki paymasters
The Kenya Red Cross Society that has been acclaimed as one of the best relief support agencies, did not come to the aid of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Naivasha Prisons for a whole 3 days, yet, they were in Burnt Forest and Eldoret within hours of the fracas breaking out.
It came out that the Red Cross, just like the government, was partisan in addressing the problems. In the case of Naivasha, the Red Cross and the government were looking at it as a Luo affair, not a Kenyan affair.
This partisan approach to the massacre has exposed the Red Cross as a dishonest agency.
When the Mungiki youths went to Kabati cemetery for oath-taking, the police were very much in the picture. When they ransacked Kabati Estate, the police looked helpless. When the people ran to Naivasha Prisons for safety, the police moved in on the road, armed and ready to shoot at anyone who dared come out of the prison.
I reckon they should have been engaging the Mungiki so that they could save non-Kikuyu property, but they only escorted them on the macabre mission.
The world must know the truth. And it is this truth that will set us free.
Why were Kikuyus hell bent on eliminating Luos from Naivasha, when it is a known fact that Luos never killed any kikuyu in Nyanza at the beginning of the evictions?
Why were Kikuyus in Naivasha cheering and telling Luos that they wanted Majimbo (regionalism), yet now had to be evicted?
Why were the police under instructions to safeguard Mungiki, and to shoot to kill at any show of resistance, people who stood helpless as their houses were being burnt and their people killed as they watched?
It is time to make clear distinctions; those who shout loudest about crimes against humanity, are the main paymasters of the murderous Mungiki sect.
Residents now claim Kenyatta family illegally acquired land in Taita-Taveta
Updated 1 hrs 30 mins ago
By PATRICK BEJA and RENSON MWANYAMWEZI
Taita Taveta; Kenya: The admission by Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta that his family owns about 30,000 acres of land in Taita Taveta County has elicited angry reactions from residents.
The residents and leaders claimed that the land was irregularly acquired and should be returned to the community.
They dismissed claims by Uhuru during the second presidential debate in Nairobi on Monday night that the land was acquired through a “willing buyer willing seller” deal.
The residents accused the Deputy Prime Minister of being insincere on the controversial land question and said 80 per cent of the population in Challa Division where the Kenyatta land is located were squatters.
Two Taveta parliamentary aspirants Ruth Lelewu (ODM) and Stephen Odiaga (Ford-Kenya) claimed that the Kenyatta family irregularly acquired the most productive land in the area.
“It is not willing buyer and willing seller as claimed by Uhuru Kenyatta during the presidential debate. The fact remains that the local community was not consulted when the land was acquired by the Kenyatta family and they want it back,” claimed Lelewu.
Odiaga, a Mombasa lawyer, said the land belongs to the local community and should be returned.
Speaking to The Standard from Taveta yesterday, Odiaga accused the Kenyatta family of using the entire Tsavo River water source at the expense of the locals.
“The family is the only one benefiting from the Tsavo River water and farmers in Jipe Settlement Scheme, Kidong and Sir Ramson. The community should be allowed to use the water for irrigation to improve food security,” he added.
During the presidential debate Uhuru said: “My family owns 30,000 acres in Taveta. Most of the land there is government land. My family donated part of the land to settle squatters.”
Uhuru maintained that they acquired the land legally and have not been investigated for any wrong doing.
And Coast residents want the National Land Commission to implement the Njonjo and Ndung’u land reports and ensure squatters are settled.
Chairman of the Coast Landless Social Forum and an official of the Ujamaa Centre Mr Mrima Wanyepe welcomed Safina presidential candidate’s remarks that historical land injustices were committed from Lamu to Vanga at the Coast.
In Lamu County, residents welcomed remarks by Amani presidential candidate Musalia Mudavadi that some land speculators have already acquired plots in Manda Bay to sell at a higher price when the Lamu port project kicks off. However, they blamed the Government for issuing title deeds to the land speculators.
A civil society activist from Taita Taveta County Mr Mwakio Ndau demanded that the Kenyatta family returns the land to locals without seeking compensation as there was no evidence of the community selling its land.
“At independence, Government was supposed to acquire tracts of land under sisal in Taita Taveta County belonging to white settlers and redistribute it to the local people but instead influential individuals allocated it to themselves and friends,” Ndau argued.
Lelewu denied claims by Uhuru and Cabinet Minister Beth Mugo that the Kenyatta family had donated land to resettle squatters in Taita. “The family has not donated 4,000 acres of land as claimed by family members. This is political gimmick to hoodwink locals to support Uhuru,” he claimed.
But Gender and Social Services Development Minister Naomi Shaban and Taveta DC Heribae Nkaduda confirmed the Kenyatta family donated 4,000 acres of land to be distributed to squatters in the region.
Dr Shaban, however, said the settlement programme had stalled following a controversy on the list of beneficiaries. “The land in question is still available to settle the landless. The settlement process was stopped after the squatter list kept on changing,” she said.
Sonko, Shebesh dump Waititu, support Mbaru
By Geoffrey Mosoku
Nairobi, Kenya: The National Alliance candidate for Nairobi governor has suffered a setback after two of his close allies jumped ship to support one of his rivals.
On Wednesday, Gideon Mbuvi Sonko and Rachel Shebesh declared they will support Ferdinand Waititu’s rival Jimnah Mbaru who is vying for the governor seat on Alliance Party of Kenya ticket following a falling out in the TNA camp.
Sources indicated that the two met with Mbaru in a Nairobi hotel on Tuesday to strike a deal on how to campaign as a team.
They are said to have taken the decision following suspicions within their camp, just four days before Monday’s General Election.
When contacted, Sonko said there was nothing wrong in working with Mbaru.
The ex-legislator hinted that they had disagreed between themselves after reports emerged that Waititu was allegedly supporting his rivals for the senate seat.
“There is nothing wrong if I work with Mbaru. After all we also received reports that Waititu has been secretly campaigning for my rival Margret Wanjiru,” he said.
However, Waititu dismissed the move as inconsequential saying his support is not in the duo’s pocket but with voters.
“My votes are not in the pockets of Sonko and Shebesh but with the people who will decide in four days from now,” he said.
The former Embakasi MP’s bid may suffer a setback following the latest development as the three previously campaigned as a team. They are also in the same billboards across the city.
In the run up to January parties nomination, the three politicians campaigned as a team and even had a joint secretariat to coordinate their activities.
But soon after they clinched their party nominations, Sonko and Shebesh isolated themselves and are currently working from a secretariat in Kilimani area.
Sources indicate that Sonko and Shebesh move follows sustained pressure by some influential businessmen especially who have been pushing for the Mbaru ticket.
The business community has even been pressuring TNA presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta to endorse Mbaru arguing that he is the best suited to safeguard the interests of the business community in Nairobi.
Waititu and Mbaru are battling against ODM’s Evans Kidero, FPK’s Philip Kisia and Wiper’s Mutinda Kavemba for the Nairobi governor seat.
With recent opinion polls indicating that Waititu was trailing Kidero, the pro- Mbaru team argues that the TNA candidate will not be easily sold to the middle class and business communist although he may be popular among the masses in the informal settlements.
This is being interpreted as part of the scheme to isolate Waititu but TNA media liaison strategist Moses Kuria dismissed the plot as mere propaganda.
“There is now way Uhuru can support a candidate from another party when TNA has fielded one. Come to Uhuru Park on Saturday and see Waititu being endorsed,” Kuria added.
KENYA SITUATION
ICC-OTP
27 February 2013
Prosecution Responds to Mr. Muthaura and Mr. Kenyatta’s Requests to Postpone
the Start of the Trial
As a result of a court filing submitted on 25 February 2013, questions have arisen on the readiness of the Office of the Prosecutor to proceed in the pending cases. The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) clarifies that it did not ask for or suggest that it needs a postponement for its own purposes. The 25 February 2013 filing instead was a response, in accordance with a court order, to requests from the Kenyatta and Muthaura Defence Teams to vacate the 11 April 2013 start date for the trial.
The OTP noted at the onset that “The Prosecution is ready for trial and wishes trial to proceed.” Nonetheless, it noted that the Chamber itself recently acknowledged the logistical difficulties in adhering to the trial schedules in both Kenya cases (which include, for example, competing demands for courtroom space and Registry staff, among other things), and also that the Defence complained about the late disclosure of the identities of a few prosecution witnesses. Because of these factors, it explained that it did not oppose a reasonable delay to the start of the trial.
The filing made clear that the Prosecution did not affirmatively seek delay. It also explained that it has not delayed disclosure of all the witnesses’ identities for the improper purpose of prejudicing or impeding the Defence. It stated that it “has complied with the deadlines set by the Chamber and has taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the Defence received timely disclosure, notwithstanding the unprecedented level of witness tampering in this case and the associated witness security challenges.”
The OTP concluded that, taking into consideration the logistical constrains raised by the Chamber at the 14 February 2013 status conference, the time required for protective measures for witnesses to be fully implemented, the OTP “does not object to a reasonable adjournment of the trial.”
Background
At the 14 February 2013 status conference, in the case of the Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, the Kenyatta Defence requested the Trial Chamber to vacate the 11 April 2013 trial date, while the Mr. Muthaura Defence Team similarly contended that the April 2013 start date “was not viable.” The Defence Teams appealed to the Chamber to reconsider the April 2013 trial date, in order to allow them sufficient time to prepare for trial, pursuant to Article 67 of the Statue. Presiding Judge Kuniko Ozaki instructed the Defence to make written submissions to the Chamber on this issue by 20 February 2013, and she instructed the Office of the Prosecutor to respond to the relevant Defence submissions by 25 February 2013.
Time Required to Fully Implement Protective Measures
The Prosecution’s Response to the Defence acknowledged that the Victims and Witness Unit “requires time to implement the protective measures and that operational constraints and the preelection security situation in Kenya make the process particularly challenging.”
Courtroom Availability
The Prosecution also recognized that “events beyond the Court’s control, in particular the Court’s operational restraints, may make an April start date untenable.”
The Defence Appeal for More Time to Prepare for Trial
The OTP’s submissions took issue with particular arguments put forward by the Defence in their 21 and 22 February 2013 submissions. Nevertheless the OTP recognized that it is “appropriate for the Defence to have a reasonable period of time, after the relevant identities have been disclosed and the corresponding redactions to the witness materials and the pre-trial brief have been lifted,
to analyse the Prosecution’s evidence before the witnesses testify.” The Prosecution concluded that, “Therefore, the Prosecution does not object to a reasonable adjournment, to allow time for protective measures to be put in place for the witnesses whose identities remain to be disclosed (“Delayed Disclosure Witnesses”) and to provide the Defence with adequate time to prepare.”
Source: Office of the Prosecutor
otpnewsdesk@icc-cpi.int
Thuita Mwangi is a merchant of impunity
Thursday, September 2, 2010 – 00:00 — miguna miguna
If there are merchants of impunity in the government, Thuita Mwangi is one of them. For one, he has not denied newspaper reports that he was one of those who coordinated the embarrassing and illegal smuggling of the most famous international fugitive, Omar Al Bashir to and from Kenya on August 27th. Mr. Mwangi has publicly acknowledged and feebly attempted to defend his nefarious role in a newspaper column. In law, he has essentially “confessed” to assisting a fugitive evade justice. He could be charged for aiding and abetting a fugitive.
Prior to Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s visit to Kenya last year, Mr. Mwangi publicly attacked the ICC and called for its ongoing investigations to be suspended for one year. The veneer of his argument then was “national sovereignty, peace and stability.” With Bashir, he makes the same arguments. Only that his latest acerbic article also draws in some un-named “members of the Security Council”; code words for the United States of America and President Barrack Obama. That’s both clever and cowardly. Clever because Mwangi seems to realize that he isn’t able to take on the US and its president and emerge unscathed. He is a coward because it’s obvious whom he wants to attack yet lacks sufficient courage to do so openly. But we get the message.
Firstly, let’s deal with protocol and optics. When Mwangi & Co smuggled Bashir through Wilson Airport, the minister for foreign affairs, Moses Wetangula – Mwangi’s immediate boss – told the world that Bashir had been “invited” to Kenya by President Kibaki. In Wetangula’s words, “heads of states are invited by their counterparts”. That’s correct, but only to a point. In a coalition arrangement, a major decision like that cannot be made without consultations with the coalition partner. Both the National Accord and the Constitution say so. The Prime Minister and ODM have publicly stated that they were not consulted. Bashir was therefore brought into the country irregularly.
Secondly, the ICC is an international court; not a political institution. The ICC speaks through its judgments and orders. Those decisions can only be challenged procedurally, by appealing them. When a court issues an order, aggrieved parties do not call press conferences or publish op-ed pieces in local newspapers. In addition, the ICC sits at The Hague; not in Nairobi. Therefore, publishing an article in the Daily Nation cannot reach, leave alone affect the decision being “responded” to. As a lawyer, albeit one who hasn’t practiced, Mr. Mwangi ought to know this.
Thirdly, when President Obama issued a statement seeking to know why Al Bashir was smuggled into Kenya in complete disregard to Kenya’s obligations as a state party, which compels it to enforce arrest warrants from the ICC, he was speaking as the head of state of the USA; not in his private capacity. As such, if Kenya were to respond to the issues Obama raised, it should have emanated from President Kibaki or the Prime Minister; not Thuita Mwangi.
Mr. Mwangi argues that Kenya’s obligation to an AU resolution supersedes its obligation to the ICC. He doesn’t bother to say why that is so. Moreover, the position he attempts to articulate doesn’t represent the views of Kenyans. Mwangi also signs his article as the “permanent secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs”. One assumes that he was speaking for his ministry and minister. Significantly, he wasn’t speaking for the “government of Kenya,” which I also serve. But even if that were to be the case, isn’t foreign affairs supposed to be a national institution; not merely a PNU outfit?
Mwangi seems unhappy with the ICC’s decision to refer “Kenya” to the Security Council; but he has failed to lay down his grounds. He calls the ICC decision “curious” and says the process leading to it is “suspect”. Instead of presenting a cogent case in support of his unwarranted allegations, he pleads with the ICC and the Security Council to “appreciate the context of the Horn of Africa region.” What, precisely, is that context? Isn’t Darfur and the atrocities Bashir is alleged to have committed part of that context? If it wasn’t considered; wouldn’t that be something Bashir should be arguing in his defense at The Hague?
Kenya ratified and domesticated the Rome Statute before the AU resolved to protect international criminals and perpetuate impunity. Unlike the AU, the ICC is a recognized court of law whose orders carry weight around the world. The AU resolutions, however, aren’t binding on the ICC or on the Security Council. The AU is not a States Party to the Rome Statute; Kenya is.
Finally, can someone explain to me who will compensate Kenyans for the hundreds of millions worth of business and opportunities we lost when Kenya’s airspace and Wilson Airport were closed for one whole day in order to aid an international fugitive? Can the person who actually smuggled Bashir into Kenya please speak up?
In wajir county code party Zone have alot to say about on last election.This time as volunteer observer fare and justice election was conducted.fuck view to Raila allegations seems false,advise Mr.RAILA to admit the defeat.