Abdi Guliye, a retired Commissioner of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has shed light on the alleged behind-the-scenes discussions and requests for altered election results by some senior leaders.
Guliye revealed in his submissions to the Muchelule Tribunal on Monday that the commission had received requests to slow down the election process, with visits from senior leaders in the country asking them to ‘consider the bigger picture and not operate in a vacuum’.
Guliye also stated that during an early morning visit, some of the commissioners agreed with the visitors that the results should be moderated in order to keep the country together and announce a specific candidate.
“Specifically, commissioner Irene Masit agreed to the remarks moderating the results for the purposes of holding the country together,” Guliye said.
However, Guliye stated that the commission should follow the constitution and not discuss winning or losing before the election results were known.
“Personally when the chair gave us an opportunity to react, I told him we need to abide by the constitution. I said I did not know the election’s outcome at that time and my view was that we didn’t need to discuss winning and losing because we did not know who was winning or losing,” Guliye proclaimed.
Guliye also revealed that there were other visits, specifically at 3 a.m. on August 15, 2022, where the visitors left immediately following their discussions with the commission.
Guliye stated that the commission was also informed by security teams at the IEBC headquarters that the chair would be receiving visitors.
“They wanted us to declare Raila Odinga as the winner of that round,” he said.
The visitors included former Attorney General Kihara Kariuki, former Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, former Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai, and former Lieutenant General Francis Ogola, according to the submissions.
According to Guliye, the sentiments sparked a discussion about the results, which some commissioners felt fell short of their expectations. The argument was that the commission should have forced a runoff because the gap was too small.
“Irene Masit was in the position of the other three that we moderate the results and have a runoff,” he added.
