Chebukati: Juliana Cherera Wanted Me To Force A Re-Run

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebekati has revealed that Vice-Chair, Juliana Cherera wanted him to manipulate the results to force a re-run of the August 9 general elections.

Chebukati, in a statement dated Wednesday, August 17, claimed that Cherera, alongside the three commissioners; Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang'aya and Irene Masit, wanted him to break the Constitution which led to a delay in officially declaring the results.

"The four Commissioners demanded that the Chairperson moderates the results for purpose of forcing an election Re-run contrary to their oath of office. This is tantamount to subverting the Constitution and the sovereign will of the People of Kenya.

"The Chairperson refused to yield to this unconstitutional and illegal demand and proceeded to declare the results of the Presidential Election as received from the polling stations," he explained.

On Cherera's 0.01 per cent doubts on the total accorded to four presidential aspirants, Chebukati said that the extra percentage that amounted to 142,000 votes unaccounted for was fake.

"The alleged 0.01 per cent increase in the Presidential Election results raised by the four Commissioners namely Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang'aya and Irene Masit, is false and misleading," Chebukati stated.

"This is the most transparent election that the Commission has ever held. All results, Form 34As, were uploaded in real-time and are available in the public portal."

Chebukati reiterated that it is the law that provides that the Chairperson of the Commission is the Returning Officer of the Presidential Election.

Further, Article 138(10) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 empowers the Chairperson of the Commission to within seven (7) days declare the result of the election and a written notification of the result handed to the Chief Justice and the Incumbent President.

Section 39(1h) provides that the Chairperson shall declare the results of the election of the President in accordance with Article 138(10) of the Constitution, a law which waters down the commissioners' involvement in such a scenario.

Chebukati further noted that the constituency returning officers are the ones who do the following roles: 

1. Verify the results against Forms 34A and 34B received from the constituency returning officer at the national tallying centre;
2. Tally and complete Form 34C;
3. Announce the results for each of the presidential candidates for each County
4. Sign and date the forms and make available a copy to any candidate or the national chief agent present;
5. Publicly declare the results of the election of the president in accordance with Articles 138(4) and 138(10) of the Constitution;
6. Issue a certificate to the person elected president in Form 34D set out in the Schedule; and
7. Deliver a written notification of the results to the Chief Justice and the incumbent president within seven (7) days of the declaration; Provided that the Chairperson of the Commission may declare a candidate elected as the President before all the Constituencies have delivered their results if in the opinion of the Commission the results that have not been received will not make a difference with regards to the winner on the basis of Article 138(4)(a) (b) of the Constitution.

"All Returning Officers including the National Returning Officer for Presidential Election took an individual oath of secrecy before embarking on their duties. In addition, the Chairperson and Commissioners took an oath of office at the time of appointment. It is an oath of office that the Chairperson faithfully executed, when he declared the results for the Presidential Election on Monday, 15th August 2022.

"As the gazetted National Returning Officer and in the spirit of teamwork, the Chairperson involved all Commissioners including Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang’aya and Irene Masit in all activities of verification and tallying. Their duties were well defined in writing and allocated at the National Tally Center (NTC). They had access to all results beforehand and interchangeably announced them for six (6) days in the full glare of live television," Chebukati noted.

He added that if any of the parties elect to file a petition, it is within their constitutional right and the Commission shall have an opportunity to respond and demonstrate in further detail the circumstances under which the election was conducted, results verified and outcome declared in accordance with the constitution and the law.