Chebukati: How IEBC Wanted Ruto To Order Probe Into Bomas Chaos

Outgoing Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati on Monday, January 16 revealed that the commission had written to President William Ruto to form a Commission of Inquiry into the August presidential election after the chaotic events at Bomas of Kenya during the announcement of the results.

Speaking during the launch of the Post Election Evaluation Report, Chebukati expressed that the attempts by multiple factions to scuttle the presidential elections could not go unpunished as they risked resurfacing in future polls.

IEBC as a result wrote to the President asking for the formation of the inquiry, noting that its outcome would help strengthen the independence of the IEBC under new leadership once Chebukati, alongside the two commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye, leaves office on January 17, 2023.

"The gravity of these attempts to subvert the will of the people cannot be wished away or swept under the carpet because they might reemerge in the future. For this reason, the commission wrote to the President of the Republic of Kenya requesting for a public inquiry in respect of the process leading to the declaration of the final results at the Bomas of Kenya.

"The outcome of the inquiry, we believe, will bolster the independence of the commission and ensure that it maintains the stature contemplated by the constitution. It will also enable a future election environment devoid of harassment, intimidation, profiling and harm of commission staff while discharging their duties," Chebukati noted.

The outgoing chairperson once again cited some members of the National Security and Advisory Council (NSAC) as among the parties who attempted to arm-twist IEBC to subvert the will of the people as expressed on voting day, August 9, 2022.

"The 2022 general elections witnessed probably the gravest attempt to usurp the independence of the commission and the sovereign will of the people of Kenya as expressed in the polls. These attempts took the form of ethnic profiling and open threatening of some members of the commission and staff, arrest and holding incommunicado of commission staff and service providers without lawful basis, abduction and illegal detention of staff and service providers by state security, attack and assault of some members of the commission and service providers by goons and law enforcement agencies at the Bomas of Kenya, sub-county and constituency tallying centres.

"Abduction and murder of a constituency returning officer, intimidation of the commission by some members of the National Security and Advisory Council (NSAC) to moderate results which goes against the will of the people," he went on while presenting the audit report.

During a joint media interview on Wednesday, January 4, President Ruto explained why he was hesitant to form the inquiry to investigate what he described as state capture, with a focus on the alleged attempts to overturn the presidential election results, three months since he promised to do so.

Though noting that he put the matter aside to focus on other priorities he had promised with his administration, he did assure that he would revisit the events at Bomas in the future.

“I want to promise you the story of Bomas will be told one day…We will establish a commission one day, if you were to sit where am sitting you will know why I am going slow on certain things to get out of the mess we are in,” said Ruto.

According to him, the elements of state capture were so vested in subverting the will of the people during the elections that their attempts even involved some elements of the country's military in their quest to swing the outcome of the presidency in favour of his opponent and Azimio One Kenya candidate Raila Odinga.

Ruto had told the panel of journalists that there remain untold stories of what happened on August 15 and only Chebukati would be in a position to narrate the vivid picture of what he witnessed that day.