IEBC Responds To Claims That Ruto Bagged Ghost Votes From Polling Stations
The commission dismissed the allegations that President Ruto's victory was influenced in part by the votes got from those polling stations.
Viral Tea Ke Writer 
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Saturday, May 11 responded to numerous claims on social media of the existence of ghost polling stations involved in the 2022 general elections which President William Ruto won.
In a statement, the commission dismissed the allegations that President Ruto's victory was influenced in part by the votes got from those polling stations.
"Our attention is drawn to inaccurate and misleading content circulating in social media regarding ‘non-existent polling stations’ allegedly used in the 2022 General Election," the statement read in part.
Former IEBC chairperson, Wafula Chebukati. /FILE
Those polling stations were located in Baringo County and included Kampi Ya Nyasi Secondary School, Kasaka Primary School, Kasaka Mixed Secondary School and Kaptiony Girls' High School.
"The process of mapping where the polling stations will be during the elections is stakeholders-driven with political parties and members of the public included," the commission explained further.
IEBC also shared a link to the 46,229 polling stations which were gazetted before the General Election, evidence that the polling stations involved in the 2022 polls are in the public domain.
The allegations of ghost polling stations stemmed from an expose done by NTV which revealed that the said schools only had a signpost with no learners or structures.
The news piece also uncovered details of the schools' board members, and bank accounts but the institutions did not physically exist.
After the feature, Kenyans shared photos online where Kaptiony Girls High School was listed as a polling station on the IEBC portal during the elections.
The photo also indicated that President Ruto had accumulated 37,635 votes out of the possible 50,237 votes cast in Baringo North Constituency.
However, fact checks by Viral Tea established that the photos were doctored as only Kaptiony Primary School in Baringo North was listed as a polling station.
Nonetheless, President 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).
The Head of State got 175,170 votes from Baringo County which was better than Raila, George Wajackoyah and David Mwaure.
