‘Nimekubali hii imeenda,’ – Senator Olekina finally accepts Ruto’s win

Narok Senator Ledama Olekina now says he has fully accepted the outcome of the August presidential election after five months of being in denial.

In a tweet on Wednesday, January 11, the outspoken ODM party senator indicated that he had accepted the win of President William Ruto, who narrowly beat his party leader Raila Odinga in the August 9 poll.

“I have fully accepted it! This is indeed the reality!” Olekina said adding that it was time to move on and serve the people.

The legislator alluded that Ruto’s deputy Rigathi Gachagua will be the biggest loser in the Kenya Kwanza government days after the Head of State handed key roles to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, overshadowing the country’s second in command.

“But the person who will cry the most, in the end, is none other than Rigathi Gachagua. isoright…wacha sisi tufanyie wakenya kazi Junet Mohamed ero Sasa nimekubaki hii imeenda (It’s alright…Let us now serve Kenyans. Junet Mohamed I have accepted this is gone),” he said in the post that he tagged Junet Mohamed, who served as Secretary General of Raila Odinga’s Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition council.

I have fully accepted it! This is indeed the reality! But the person who will cry the most in the end is none other than @rigathi isoright…wacha sisi tufanyie wakenya kazi @JunetMohamed ero Sasa nimekubaki hi imeenda…

— Sen. Ledama Olekina (@ledamalekina) January 11, 2023

A section of leaders in Azimio led by Raila insists that the former Prime Minister’s victory was stolen.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto as the winner of the presidential poll after garnering 7.2 million votes against Raila’s 6.9 million votes.

Azimio challenged the results at the Supreme Court but a seven-judge bench dismissed all the nine grounds they had broadly framed as the issues for determination in the election petitions filed by the coalition and six others.

Last weekend, Raila maintained that divisions at the electoral body that saw four commissioners disown the results was proof that the election was flawed and Ruto was not validly elected.

Speaking during a Sunday service at ACK Cathedral Church in Mombasa, Raila said he would reveal the truth about what happened in August at the right time.

“Gospels according to Saints Chebukati, Cherera and Sapit are out, but there is still the gospel according to St. John and once it is out, it will show how everything was. Kenyans are saying that Baba is not talking, I will talk when St. John Speaks,” Raila added.

The ODM party leader’s remarks come days after President Ruto alleged that the military was roped in an election rigging scheme that was supposed to deny him the presidency in favour of Raila, who was his main opponent in the August 2022 election.

“The events of August 15th were horrible because even the military, a sacred institution, was roped into the scheme to sabotage the will of the people of Kenya because of the State capture menace,” Ruto said during an interview with the media on Wednesday night.

President Ruto stated that there were untold stories surrounding the announcement of the presidential results on August 15, 2022, that only the IEBC boss was in a position to tell.

The Head of State noted that he had gone slow on his promise to form a commission of inquiry to look into chaos witnessed at Bomas of Kenya during the announcement of the presidential results because he was prioritising other pressing matters.

“If Chebukati were to tell you the kind of hell he went through if the day a story of 15th August can be told, you will know why am delaying… now I have to balance between sorting out the economy or do I swing this big thing that will drain our energy,” Ruto said.

Chebukati had, in a sworn affidavit filed in the Supreme Court during the hearing of the presidential petition filed by Raila, indicated that members of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) warned him against declaring Ruto as President-elect.

Four commissioners including then IEBC Vice-chairperson Juliana Cherera who rejected results announced by Chebukati have since been suspended to pave way for a probe into their conduct.