There is rigging afoot in Kenya before August 8

[Dr. Job]

There is rigging afoot in Kenya before August 8

Dr Roselyne Kwamboka Akombe during the vetting for the position of IEBC commissioner by the Parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs committee on January 10, 2017. Photo/Jack Owuor

Jan. 14, 2017, 12:00 am
By NGURE WA GACHANJA

There is a word for it all: rigging. Please do not say you were not warned!

Such is the nature of Kenyan elections. In the multi-party era, the preparations for them have invariably been breathlessly rushed, messy, fractious and unpredictable. The result, however, has always been predictable: the incumbent has won! Save obviously in 2002 and 2013 when the incumbents could not run. As predictable as scoring A’s in the KCSE examinations before Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i checked in.

Instead of a smoking gun for evidence, think of it as the conning trickster’s game of cards: each shuffle of the deck, each play of now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t, each show of this card or that card gradually adding up to a grand heist right in front of one’s eyes. This is democracy’s death by a thousand cuts: they come from a variety of seen and concealed sources and injure various all over but the end is all the same: death!

Hence, in this case, look not for just one act or omission; rather, it is the sum total of acts and omissions that presents the compelling case that, even as you read this, the rigging of the 2017 elections is afoot.

Please do not roll your eyes! I am not trying to be inflammatory, to disparage or to mischievously catalyze disaffection. Here are the components that I would suggest make an increasingly powerful case that rigging is afoot.

First, we are no longer guaranteed to the fullest extent possible a voting process that is secure; with the electoral law amendments assented to by President Uhuru Kenyatta on January 9, 2017, what we now have is an obscure and opaque, gapingly open and vulnerable "complimentary mechanism for identification of voters and transmission of election results.” ....No one tells us what exactly this is; just that it is supposed to be the back up to the electronic system that had been previously exclusively mandated by law. It is not that we quibble that the logic for a backup is unsound; it is just that it would be epically foolish not to flag that in a country where elections have been repeatedly stolen and where political trust is thin, it is extremely reckless to, for whatever reason, leave unquestioned a large hole in the electoral electric fence.

Second, we have a posse of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners that, it is reported, were the pick from the worst performers during the interviews for the IEBC Chair and Commissioners. The Tuesday December 27, 2016 edition of The Standard whose headline was “Details of how panel settled on new IEBC team” narrated a horror political story that immediately extinguished the celebrations normally attending the Christmas season. It was the interesting reenactment of the biblical statement that the first shall come last and the last shall come first: for reportedly nominated (and obviously soon-to-be-confirmed) as commissioners and chair of the IEBC were not the table toppers but the table anchors of the interview exercise. The tail, literally and metaphorically, will again soon wag the electoral dog.

Third, there continue to be political attacks on independent arms of government, notably the legislature and judiciary. The biggest offenders here are the police and the majority leader in the national assembly Aden Duale. In the first case, the intimidating and muscular police cordon around parliament as Uhuruto forced their will on parliament in their ineluctable desire to pass the amendments to the electoral law was a coercive show of force. In the latter case, please see for an exhibit Duale’s irresponsibly toxic attack on Justice George Odunga accusing him of issuing biased and opposition-supporting judicial rulings.

Fourth, our police force is indubitably now wired and purposed to protect the Uhuruto hegemony, rather than all Kenyans. For the latest evidence, please see the paragraph above.

Fifth, the recent frenzied assault on alternative voices, now most notably against civil society is indubitably an attempt to muzzle and strangulate rather than regulate them; it is certainly telling that CSOs such as the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) have mandates to engage in human rights and political accountability and civic education.

Sixth, the system is financially doped to favor one side; a big part of this, outside the illegitimate use of state resources will be the unbridled use of corruptly-acquired loot. As was confirmed in the ugly public tiff between Deputy President William Ruto and former Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, not only has the looting occurred (and continues to do so) but the politics around it will ensure that this corruptly-acquired loot will be used for electoral politics.

Finally, you know there will be rigging if Mutahi Ngunyi declares it will be so. Please carefully re-read his contribution in last weekend’s The Standard on Sunday. He said it; and he is actually paid to do so.

Ngure wa Gachanja is a human rights and democratic governance practitioner. The views expressed in this column are entirely his own and in no way represent or articulate those of any organizations he may be associated with.

There is rigging afoot in Kenya before August 8

 

[Dr. Job]

Wiper alleges plot to rig August polls

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka. (Photo: Jenipher Wachie/Standard)

CORD co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper Party has claimed the August polls will be rigged.
The party said an incident in Wajir where Mr Kalonzo found that he shares the same National Identity Card number with another person was not by coincidence, but an orchestrated scheme to allow those with multiple IDs to vote more than once.

At a Wiper National Executive Council (NEC) meeting Thursday, the party was categorical that they will not accept anything short of a free, fair, credible and transparent election.
"We will not condone any machinations that might lead to election rigging. It was extremely shocking that while in Wajir on Wednesday, our party leader found out that he shared an ID number with a Salome Wanjiru Njoroge who was born in 1993," said Wiper Secretary General Hassan Omar in a statement.
The party also deliberated on the expanded Opposition under the banner of the National Super Alliance (NASA) and agreed to make a stand on the matter in seven days-time.


NASA is being spearheaded by Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi.

Wiper has insisted that despite its call as early as January last year for the removal of the Registrar of Persons who had reached the retirement age, she is still in office.

"The continued stay in office of the officer is a Jubilee strategy to pre-rig the elections by frustrating the registration of identity cards, which would eventually deny people the right to vote," said Mr Omar.

Calling on the unregistered to turn out in large numbers and register as voters, Omar challenged the new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissions (IEBC) team to rise to the occasion and give Kenyans a free, fair and credible General Election.

The Mombasa senator said only by registering as voters will Kenyans be able to vote out what he termed as 'the inept, corrupt and tribal Jubilee regime', change the dwindling fortunes of the country and restore hope among the despairing populace.

On drought, Wiper accused the Government of doing very little in terms of instituting mitigation measures to combat the effects of famine.

Wiper alleges plot to rig August polls

 

[Dr. Job]

HERE are the ‘DARK SECRETS’ of the New IEBC COMMISSIONERS Uhuru Nominated, MURDERER? FRAUDSTER??

Wafula Chebukati – nominated for Chairman (IEBC)*

By Jaramba Okwama

The IEBC selection panel has been thrown into a spin following shocking emerging revelations regarding the applicants that they vetted and recommended for appointment into the new IEBC commission. The nominations have been roundly condemned — and in the strongest of terms.

President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated lawyer Wafula Chebukati for the position of IEBC Chairman including six other individuals for the positions of Commissioners. They were: Consolata Nkatha Bucha Maina, Boya Molu, Dr Roselyn K. Akombe, Ambassador Paul Kurgat, Margaret Wanjala Mwachanya, and Professor Abdi Guliye.

Parliament will now have to sift through serious integrity and conflict of interest issues involving some of the Chairman and some of the nominated Commissioners following numerous tips received against them.

The Chairperson of the IEBC selection panel Bernadette Musundi and vice chairperson Abdulghafur El-Busaidy along with members Tom Mbaluto, Peter Karanja, David Oginde, Mohan Lumba, Ogla Karani, Evans Monari and Mary Karen Kigen are accused of doing an extremely casual job in vetting the applicants and ignoring damning evidence of impropriety against some of the candidates.

1. Wafula Chebukati – nominated for Chairman (IEBC)

Chebukati’s law firm, Cootow Associates Advocates, has been exposed as the main conduit through which corruption proceeds were channeled to former EACC Chair Philip Kinisu’s family company, Esaki Ltd, which receive more than sh400 million in several irregular tenders awarded to him by ministry of health and ministry of devolution, including NYS.

Cootow Associates Advocates are further accused of incompetence and professional negligence that led to loss of millions of shillings of money belonging to the Nairobi City County government in a case between NCG and Salima Enterprises. Media reports indicate that Chebukati’s firm did not defend the suit, despite attending court hearings, leading the county to lose the case. Consequently, the plaintiff sought a Sh325 million compensation which NCG were forced to pay in addition to paying the cost of the suit and legal fees due to Cootow.

In that case in which Chebukati acted for Nairobi County Government, he exhibited shocking professional negligence when he failed to appear in court for key hearings and whenever he found time to attend court, he failed to defend the NCG. An internal report within the county government accused Chebukati of deliberately filing discrepant papers that eventually led to the collapse of the case and resulted in a loss of for the county government and poor market hawkers.

The internal reports at City Hall that were seen by this author were produced on the basis of official correspondence in which Chebukati’s apparent lack of committment to defend the stolen public land is highlighted. The presiding judge in the case Justice Mary Gitumbi expressed similar concerns during which time she also gave sufficient adjournment aimed at giving Chebukati sufficient time to refile his case documents in the interest of the public. Chebukati failed to take advantage for judicial goodwill to save public land.

In her final ruling, Justice Gitumbi made reference to the strange behavior of defence lawyer Chebukati and his apparent failure to defend the public land which was outrightly grabbed by unscrupulous grabbers calling themselves Salima Enterprises. The judge also extended time for the defence lawyer Chebukati to appeal the ruling within the first week but Chebukati failed to appeal. Several Nairobi county lawyers have indicated their total willingness to swear affidavits against chebukati abilities. Many narrate their frustrations in pushing chebukati to safe the public land. In fact one exclaimed, how could Chebukati have convinced the selection panel with all his known redundancy.

Members of Parliament will be critically looking at the activities of Cootow Associates Advocates in this case and other recent corruption cases and any role that Chebukati may have had in these deals. Many Kenyans have privately narrated their frustrations in appealing to Chebukati to act to save the public land. One Westlands market trader interviewed by this writer expressed shock at how an individual of Chebukati’s incompetence could have persuaded the IEBC selection panel with all his known redundancy.

The IEBC selection panel of nine eminent persons has been put on a backfoot that they allowed individual of Chebukati’s standing could go as far as being shortlisted for interview knowing they had serious integrity issues. Professional colleagues who know Chebukati from his campus days are now saying that he is a smooth legal lair who has accumulated wealth by acting quietly to defend all manner of crafts in the nation. This explains why Chebukati is a senior legal consel yet is not publicly known by ordinary Kenyans. How the selection panel did not investigate this matters thoroughly leaves a lot to be desired.

To make matters worse, conflict of interests questions are bound to be raised after details emerged regarding close relations between the families of the nominated Chairman and people managing President Uhuru Kenyatta 2017 re-election campaign.

Chebukati is said to be half brother to the disgraced Ex-EACC Chairman Philip Kinisu whom he represented in the NYS corruption scandal, and Kinisu is married to Nancy Gitau the immediate former Senior Presidential Advisor and Strategist, who was recently recalled to Head President Uhuru’s re-election campaign think-tank. Clearly a critical conflict of interest question emerges from this. READ MORE HERE as was uncovered by the Standard Newspaper

2. Connie Nkatha alias Consolata Bucha – nominated IEBC Commissioner

Additional information reaching this writter indicate that Consolata Nkatha Bucha also known as Connie Maina, ranked last by the recruitment panel, she allegdly has a criminal court case in which she is accused defrauding Kshs. 280m from the Museums of Kenya and then going into exile in Australia where she changed her identity to Consolata Nkatha in a bid to conceal her real identity.

Try to google Consolata Nkatha or any of her names, you will find zero results other than links relating to this IEBC job application/selection. No serious proffessional blacks out his or her Linkedin page. She seems to have worked overtime to eliminate all her digital footprints.

Additionally, Nkatha remains a prime suspect in a murder case in the mysterious death of her husband, a man from Ekerenyo, Nyamira county- Kisii. Sources say that after she allegedly masterminded the murder of her husband Maina Keengwa and whose funeral she did not even attend, she eloped with the best man at her wedding – a pilot with whom she robbed his house and chased him away.

Former colleagues at KWS expressed surprise at Consolata Nkatha’s nomination alluding to her criminal past disqualifying her from holdong any public office. One of her former colleague at KWS laughed loudly wondering “how could Kenyans throw away a team of educated IEBC and hire a trainee secretary who could not even write a simple letter?” while another of her former colleague said “surely the religious leaders have been blinded by Nkatha’s witchcrafts” .

While at KWS, Nkatha’s alleged ‘intimacy’ with former Director Richard Leakey is attributed to her rapid and largely unmerited promotion to SRO without any papers at all. She travelled all over the world with Leakey who was alleged to be more than a colleague (boss) and it is believed that it was during those trips abroad that Nkatha is alleged to have met drug barons. Nkatha was forced to leave KWS in disgrace when a new Director Dr Kipngetich joined the agency. She had accumulated sufficient wealth although her sexual tools could no longer work for her.

While at KWS, Nkatha was allegedly involved in land grabbing cases with her late husband with whom they defrauded the Maasai elders to sell to them large acres of land at throw away prices only for them to resell at high prices. In the process of subdividing the parcels of land and processing the title deed, they illegally changed acres to hectares causing the people of Kajiado and Ngong lose large tracts of land.

Nkatha remains a prime suspect in the murder of her husband because he was questioning her links to some drug lord. One of the close friends who initially broke the news to Nkatha about her husbands death is yet to recover from the shock and pain he felt when “she laughed off the news, telling them “it serves him right”. Sources say she was not even at home most of the evenings when her husband’s funeral was planned and she finally did not even attend the funeral in Nyamira. Concerned constituents from Nyamira County have now petitioned legislators from Kisii region to raise this matter during the vetting stage in parliament.

When she worked at the National Museums, Nkatha is alleged to have turned into witchcraft or black magic to manipulate her bosses whenever her sexual tools failed to work. Formercolleagues believe that Nkatha’s black magic may have overpowered the God of the five religious leaders who sat at the IEBC selection panel and this is why some rated her so highly.

Nkatha’s academic certificates are in doubt as she cannot specifically name her former classmates in campus. Those who know her say she started off as a secretarial trainee at the Kenya Wildlife Services and not much known of her professional background. From Australia, she responded to the vacancy announcement when she submitted her application with suspected forged papers and a revised CV which resulted to her coming back to Kenya just to attend the IEBC public interviews.

Investigations done at the university she claims to have attended in England, indicate that she registered but did not attend school. It is believed the panelists were mesmerized by her international non existing titles and certificates all of which have now been confirmed to be forgeries.

3. Boya Molu – nominated IEBC commissioner

Boya Molu, a native of Marsabit, who previously employed at Central Bank of Kenya and at the Judiciary is accused of practicing nepotism and tribalism in hiring staff who worked under his supervision. As a Human Resource practioner, Molu specialized in selling “jobs” in where he is also known to be non confidential and easily bribable.

Ordinary Kenyans are are questioning the rationale the “wise” religious leaders in that selection panel used to shortlist the candidates. Out of a total of 859 applicants, how could the selection panel give Kenyans 3 suspects with serious integrity issues yet they had resources and time to adequately investigate each individual?

Some of the people who applied for the IEBC jobs are renown people with reputable past, what createria did the selection panel use to finally nominate the weakest and most corrupt lawyer, a secretary with serious questionable background and a Junior HR “jobs seller” did the selection panel understand the magnitude of their job?

Did they consider the blood of the people of Kenya that have been regularly shed because of bungled elections? the only hope the people of Kenya have is to return to their elected leaders and plead with the Hon. Chepkonga’s Judiciary Committee to completely reject the appointment of Wanyonyi chebukati, consolata (Connie) Nkatha Bucha and Junior HR officer Boya Molu.

HERE are the 'DARK SECRETS' of the New IEBC COMMISSIONERS Uhuru Nominated, MURDERER? FRAUDSTER??

 

[Dr. Job]

Raila reports double registration but says he will not complain again of rigging

A file photo of Cord leader Raila Odinga speaking to journalists at Old Kibera Primary School.

Cord leader Raila Odinga has reported double registration of his ID number, hours after the Interior ministry said Kalonzo Musyoka lied about a similar occurrence.

Raila said on Thursday that he was surprised to find his ID number listed under another person in the IEBC voter register.

He said IEBC clerks at Gusii Municipal Centre found his ID was registered to a woman by the name Maria Anyango.

"This is the same approach Jubilee used to manipulate the 2013 polls," he said.

Kalonzo, who is Wper leader, Musyoka found that he had been sharing his ID number with a 23-year-old woman. But the IEBC and Interior ministry said the Wiper leader lied about this.

More on this: Kalonzo accuses IEBC of rigging as his ID is listed to woman in Wajir

Also read: Kalonzo lying about double registration - Interior ministry

Despite the realisation, Raila reiterated that he will not go to his supporters claiming his victory has been stolen again after the election.

He first said this in February last year, during a strategy meeting with his ODM confidants, where anti-rigging mechanism were discussed.

Apart from running a parallel electronic vote tallying system, he and the Cord team planned to train and deploy party agents to every polling station across the country.

But ODM later said Raila will not accept "results of a rigged election" and accused the electoral commission of scheming to steal the 2017 polls.

Read: Raila won't complain of rigging again

Also read: Raila will not accept a rigged election, says opposition

Raila tasked the incoming IEBC team with cleaning up the voter register "that Jubilee used to rig in 2013".

“I am urging the team led by Wafula Chebukati to start by cleaning the voters register because it consists of 1.5 million dead voters," he said.

He said outgoing commissioners, led by Issack Hassan, favoured Jubilee during voter registration in the run up to the last general election.

Read: I’m no longer ODM life member, Chebukati tells vetting team

The new IEBC commissioners are set to take office after Uhuru formally appointed them on Wednesday.

The appointment of the seven-member team is expected to rejuvenate an electoral agency.

Raila said his victory in the August 8 poll will be determined by the ongoing mass voter registration.

Noting Cord strongholds have 11 million eligible voters, he encouraged his supporters to ensure they enlist.

"I'm confident that if all eligible voters are registered, I will send President Uhuru Kenyatta home," he said.

The opposition leader spoke as he presided over voter registration campaigns in Kisii and Nyamira counties on Thursday.

He was with Governors John Nyagarama (Nyamira), James Ongwae (Kisii) and Okoth Obado (Migori).

Raila reports double registration but says he will not complain again of rigging