Raila Odinga launches truth and electoral justice drive
Tuesday August 22 2017
Kenya's opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) leader Raila Odinga says he will not bow to internal and external pressure to move on after the August 8 poll, which he insists was rigged.
Speaking during the inauguration of coastal Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho on Tuesday, Mr Odinga launched what he termed "national campaign for truth and electoral justice in Kenya".
“We have reached a point that Kenyans must wake up. Stealing of elections must stop and this was the last time,” he said at Mama Ngina Drive gardens.
“From Mombasa to the entire country, I call on Kenyans to reject a stolen poll. The way Kenyans voted should be respected by the court and those who were defeated,” he said.
He claimed local observers had put pressure on Nasa to concede defeat and insisted that they would not until justice is done.
“We shall not accept and move on so today we launch a campaign for truth and electoral justice in Kenya,” he said.
Mr Odinga reiterated his claim that August 8 General Election was rigged in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s favour, alleging that IEBC computers were programmed to reflect a 54 per cent win for the incumbent and some selected governors.
Mr Kenyatta was declared winner with 8.2 million votes while Mr Odinga got 6.7 million votes, results the opposition leader rejected as "fake".
He said “experts in electoral fraud” were the ones who supervised the tallying of votes at Bomas of Kenya and alleged that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s votes for Mombasa county were inflated.
Poll results, he said, were manipulated to give rise to what he has branded as “computer-generated leaders”.
READ: Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga at a crossroads
Observers
Mr Odinga, who has challenged Mr Kenyatta’s win at the Supreme Court, has been under pressure to control his supporters, some of whom staged street protests in the aftermath of the poll.
The demos led to the deaths of more than two dozen people in city slums Kibera, Mathare, and western towns of Kisumu, Siaya and Homa Bay.
The majority of both local and international observers said the elections were free and fair but the opposition leader maintains hackers infiltrated the servers of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and manipulated results.
READ: Nasa criticises election observers on verdicts
The IEBC has denied the claim and is preparing to defend the results it announced at Supreme Court.
In his petition, Mr Odinga has sued the IEBC and Mr Kenyatta.
Mr Odinga reminded Kenyans that they had fought for the Second Liberation, introduction of multiparty politics and the new Constitution, and asked them to continue soldiering on.
READ: Kenya's Supreme Court registrar points out gaps in Raila petition