Raila wants IEBC Vice-chair Juliana Cherara to oversee Mombasa, Kakamega polls
By Wycliffe Nyamasege, August 24, 2022Azimio One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga now wants Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati to disqualify himself from presiding over the polls slated for Monday, August 29.
IEBC is set to hold gubernatorial elections for Mombasa and Kakamega counties after postponing the exercise twice. Elections will also take place in six areas where the exercise had been suspended.
Speaking in Mombasa on Wednesday, August 24, Raila accused Chebukati of overseeing a fraudulent process in the August 9 polls.
He asked the IEBC boss to allow his deputy Juliana Cherera to oversee next week’s elections.
“Tunasema ya kwamba uchaguzi wa Mombasa na Kakamega utafanywa chini ya usimamizi wa naibu wa mwenyekiti wa IEBC, Juliana Cherara. Bwana Chebukati kama mshitakiwa ajiondoe kwenye huo uchaguzi awache ufanywe an watu ambao hawana upendeleo,” Raila stated while campaigning for Azimio governor candidate Abdulswamad Nassir.
Loosely translated, “We are saying that the Mombasa and Kakamega elections will be held under the supervision of IEBC Vice-chairperson Juliana Cherera. As an accused person, Chebukati should disqualify himself from the process and allow impartial people to take charge.”
Cherera was among four commissioners who disowned the presidential results announced by Chebukati on Monday, August 15. The quartet claims the final tallying of the presidential results was not transparent.
Raila insists that Chebukati bungled the August 9 presidential election, whose outcome he rejected.
In a petition filed at the Supreme Court on Monday, Raila wants a seven-judge bench to nullify the election of Kenya Kwanza Alliance leader William Ruto as Kenya’s fifth president.
Ballot mixup
IEBC postponed a number of elections on August 9 over a ‘ballot mixup’.
Also on the list are parliamentary elections in Kitui Rural, Kacheliba, Pokot South, and Rongai Constituency in Nakuru County.
Elections for MCAs in Nyaki West ward (North Imenti Constituency in Meru County) and Kwa Njenga (Embakasi South in Nairobi County) were also postponed.