Elections 2022: 5 Events That Got Kenyans Talking

Every five years, Kenyans take to the ballot in queues and numbers to vote for their preferred leaders ranging from Members of the County Assembly (MCA) to President, and the August 9, 2022 elections were no different.

Not a voting period has gone by however without a few events that have fueled conversations amongst Kenyans across the country, and the August polls did carry plenty of viral topics.

Viral Tea takes a look at five events that sparked conversation across the country:

Tallying Of Results

As soon as voting closed on August 9, the counting of votes by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) kicked off and for 2022, the commission prepared a portal where Kenyans could count the votes for the presidential elections by themselves.

That's right, all 46,229 Form 34As were available and all one needed was a calculator and a keen eye for detail, and some willingness to endure long, tiring nights counting the votes from all 46,229 polling stations.

Kenya's media houses were not to be left behind, as they utilised their additional manpower to calculate the votes and stream them through TV stations, but the varying numbers suddenly threw Kenyans into mass confusion.

The tallying later stopped as the official announcement of the results drew closer, even though multinational media houses kept at it until the final few days.

President William Ruto was declared the winner with a total vote count of 7,176,141 (50.49 per cent) against his closest rival, Raila Odinga of the Azimio la Umoja coalition with a total of 6,942,930 (48.85 per cent).

Bomas of Kenya

Arguably the biggest events of the election period happened at the Bomas of Kenya, designated as a National Tallying Centre and the grand stage whereby IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati would announce the results.

But two days before the official announcement, chaos erupted at the amphitheatre, with an IEBC official bullied from all corners holding a gadget in an apparent attempt to block a man from seizing it.

On the same night, Raila Odinga's chief agent Saitabao Ole Kanchory shot himself into infamy with the bold utterance; "I want to announce that Bomas of Kenya is a scene of crime," which interrupted a noisy scuffle between a section of politicians.

On Monday, August 15, Chebukati was whisked away by security officers after a section of politicians blocked him from declaring the results, as chaos erupted this time in the packed auditorium.

The events that occurred at Bomas were so huge that Citizen TV's feature dubbed The Bomas Rapture aired on Thursday, December 22 gave an in-depth look at the events leading up to the showdowns at the premises.

Cherera 4 Disowns Results

At the same time, the four suspended IEBC commissioners pulled off a daring stunt by holding a press conference at Serena Hotel away from the remaining three commissioners, including Chebukati.

Former Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Nyang'aya, and Irene Masit disputed the results, with Cherera referring to them as 'opaque nature'.

The vice-chair would provide fodder for hilarious mockery owing to her mathematical calculations of the presidential results declared by Chebukati, which were dismissed by many fact checkers, including Viral Tea.

Though three of them have since resigned and Masit fighting to save her job, the commissioners were suspended by President Ruto pending investigations by a tribunal.

Raila Rejects Results

Many Kenyans almost saw it as a common event for Raila to reject presidential election results if he happens to be on the losing end. Simply put, he has disputed every election that he has contested and lost.

2022 thus was no different, and he came with fresh accusations against Chebukati that include breaking the law by announcing the election results by himself.

"We were shocked to learn that Mr Chebukati decide alone to name the winner of the 2022 election. He denied all the commissioners access to the results.

"Yesterday August 15, our democracy suffered a major setback. As a result, Kenya faces a political crisis as a result of the actions of Wafula Chebukati," he addressed.

He termed the final results announced by Chebukati as null and void and called upon the courts to nullify them, including the Supreme Court.

“Our view in Azimio is clear. The numbers announced by Chebukati are null and void and must be quashed by a court of law. There is no winner or president-elect. That was gross impunity," he stated

Supreme Court

As the saying goes, when you're not happy with the results of an election, you can petition them in a court of law. Raila did just that; file his presidential petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya.

During the hearings by both the petitioners and respondents, judges such as Julie Soweto, Willis Otieno, Mahat Somane among others exploded into the national limelight, with Otieno's use of the popular nursery song rhyme "Inky Pinky Ponky" in his local language in his argument setting the country on fire.

"My niece calls it 'piki piki ponki, paka mielo disco'. He (Chebukati) called both of them and he was the only person who knew who the disco would land on.