Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner Abdi Guliye now claims that just hours before announcing the presidential results for August 2022, they were told to declare Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga the winner or face a runoff.
Guliye testified before the tribunal led by Justice Aggrey Muchelule on Monday that on August 15, 2022, hours before announcing the final presidential results, a team of four visitors demanded an audience with all commissioners at around 10:00 a.m.
Guliye said former Principal Administrative Secretary at the office of President Kennedy Kihara approached them and told them that he has a message from former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Guliye said Uhuru told him to tell IEBC commissioners not to announce Ruto as the winner of the election because the country will burn.
“A group of people led by Mr. Kihara told us if we declared the results in favour of William Ruto, the country would burn,” Guliye said.
“He went on to tell us reasons for their visitation and that if we declare the results in favor of William Ruto the country was going to burn. We were even threatened that should Kenyans begin to fight each other, then the blood of those Kenyans will be in our hands,” he revealed.
“As an alternative then the message was that we should ensure that we have a runoff. They wanted us to announce Hon. Raila. We did not have any results as of that time.”
Kihara then stated that they required an immediate response on the matter, as Chebukati invited all commissioners to share their thoughts.
Guliye informed the tribunal that commissioner Irene Massit, who is on trial, agreed with the proposal.
