Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga insists that his victory during the August 9th 2022 presidential election was stolen.

Speaking at Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi, on Monday, January 23, the former Prime Minister rejected the outcome of the elections, saying he has evidence to believe that he won by more than two million votes.

The opposition leader said they do not recognise President William Ruto as the President of Kenya and that the Kenya Kwanza government is illegitimate.

“We as Azimio reject the 2022 election results totally. We can not and will not recognise the Kenya Kwanza regime and we consider the Kenya Kwanza government illegitimate,” Raila said.

He claimed Ruto was rigged in a wider scheme involving the outgoing chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati.

“I commend all Kenyans who carried out the sacred and patriotic duty and cast their ballot peacefully. You expected IEBC to transmit, tally and announce the results in accordance with the law, free of bias and corruption. But IEBC and the then chairman Wafula Chebukati and two commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu and CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan formed a cartel within IEBC to the exclusion of four new commissioners, disregarded the votes you cast and cooked their own results,” Raila said.

“The presidential results announced unilaterally by Mr Chebukati on August 15 were entirely made up by him and had nothing to do with the votes you cast.”

According to Raila, the Supreme Court was captured by cartels and made to dismiss his petition challenging Ruto’s victory as Kenya’s fifth President.

Raila said IEBC whistleblowers had confirmed to the Azimio team that the coalition won with a landslide.

He demanded the entire infrastructure, records of the 2022 elections in the IEBC be made public and audited by an impartial body.

Raila also said the opposition rejects any attempts to constitute IEBC, saying the Kenya Kwanza government is keen to rig the 2027 elections.

At the same time, Raila called on Kenyans to resist and demand the removal of punitive taxes and services including unga, milk, sugar, school books, fuel and electricity.

He said the Kenya Kwanza administration should resign, saying it has neither the mandate nor the ability to govern the country.

“We ask our people to say no to the UDA (United Democratic Alliance) regime. This regime and its unfortunate and unfair policy must be resisted and the resistance starts today,” he added.

Other leaders present were Raila’s running mate in the last election Martha Karua, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, former Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugine Wamalwa and several city MPs and politicians allied to the Azimio coalition.

Raila returned to Kenya from South Africa on Monday afternoon and headed straight to Kamukunji Grounds to address a recent ‘whistleblower report on the alleged manipulation of the August 9th elections results in favour of President Ruto.

The controversial report was brought to the limelight by Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni on Wednesday, January 18.

During his press briefing, Kioni promised that Raila, who was in South Africa in his capacity as the AU High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa, would give a comprehensive statement upon his return.

Speaking at the presser, Kioni claimed that the Azimio leader won the August 9, 2022, presidential elections with 8,170,355 votes representing 57.53% of the votes cast.

The former Ndaragwa MP claimed that the research done by Vanguard Africa, which he stated is a non-profit organization, indicates that President Ruto, who was announced by the outgoing Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chair Wafula Chebukati, mustered 5,915,973 votes that represent 41.66% of votes cast.

Kioni further stated that the report by the organization, which he claimed partners with pro-democracy leaders across Africa, showed that presidential results in 59% of the 290 constituencies could not be verified with absolute certainty.

“We’ve seen that 59% of the constituencies cannot be verified with absolute certainty. What can be verified is, Raila Odinga won the elections with 8,170,355 votes representing 57.53% of the votes cast. Ruto got 5,915,973 votes, representing 41.66%.

“A casual peruse of the document; we have seen that at one point 144 constituencies had their results verified and often at times, those results are far from the results that were announced by IEBC,” he added.

Chebukati had on August 15, 2022, declared Ruto as the president-elect after he garnered 7,176,141 million votes (50.49 per cent) against Raila’s 6,942,930 million votes (48.85 per cent).