Bribery, blackmail and assassinations President Ruto reveals how senior politicians planned to rig 2022 election

As the curtains come down on the six-year tenure of IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati, President William Ruto has come out to give his account of the intrigues behind the 2022 Presidential election in which he emerged the winner amid what he describes as a calculated attempt to "subvert the will of the people."

The Head of State says that in the run-up to the August 9, 2022 elections, a group of senior politicians whom he calls "agents of impunity" teamed up with the intention to influence the outcome of the presidential poll by capturing independent institutions that would play a key role in the elections.

"A while back, senior politicians teamed up to manage the presidential succession that was due in 2022, with a view to guaranteeing a very specific outcome of the ensuing election. A political mechanism was therefore instituted to facilitate this objective through the capture of autonomous constitutional bodies," said President Ruto during a meeting with members of Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices at State House, Nairobi on Tuesday.

Citing the case of IEBC, President Ruto said, ahead of the elections, four commissioners were introduced into the electoral body and their sole task was to "lie in wait for the election, then spring into action and take drastic actions to subvert the will of the people."

"In the case of the IEBC, this mechanism resolved to infiltrate the organisation by introducing at its highest level four sleeper commissioners whose sole task was to lie in wait for the election, then spring into action and take drastic actions to subvert the will of the people," said the President.

He went on to state that the said group of senior politicians embarked on the execution of a series of strategies consisting of "bribery, blackmail, extortion, threats and intimidation of various public officials of the IEBC."

Other schemes employed against IEBC commissioners to influence the election outcome, according to the President, included: "attempt their abductions, torture and assassination, to storm the National Tallying Centre and attempt treasonous insurrection, use violence to cause the alteration of the vote tallies, as well as entice, bribe, force or threaten the IEBC chair to announce their favoured candidate, or, failing this, eliminate him and replace him with a willing accomplice, from among the sleepers."

The president says some of these acts had been sanctioned by the highest offices in the country.

"The horrifying drama at Bomas and the emergence of break-away commissioners answering to external instructions represented a dismayingly low point in our democratic history. A policy to subvert the wishes of the people had been sanctioned at the highest offices of the state. The sovereignty of the people was in jeopardy," said Ruto.

The President saluted Chebukati, whom he previously described as a hero, and commissioners Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye saying they stood firm in the face of "serious threats, coercion, intimidation and all forms of pressure by emboldened agents of impunity."

"We now know that Chairman Wafula Chebukati, commissioners Abdi Yakub Guliye and Boya Molu as well as the CEO, Hussein Marjan, and their staff, were offered stupendous financial rewards to cooperate with the agents of impunity, but they bravely resisted," said Ruto.

"We also know that they were subsequently threatened with dire consequences for them and their families if they did not do the ‘system’s bidding and overturn the choice of Kenyans. Again, we know that they stood strong and firmly said “NO!”

President Ruto went ahead to disclose of an attempt to abduct and murder IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati all in a bid to influence the election outcome.

"We know that there was a direct attempt to abduct Wafula Chebukati and murder him so that the commission would be paralysed, or a compliant commissioner take over and subvert the people’s sovereignty. It was a hard, cold and lonely time, the threats were dire, the promised rewards lavish and the pressure relentless," Ruto added.

The Head of State hailed the outgoing IEBC Commissioners as committed, courageous and patriotic adding that the Supreme Court decision to uphold the outcome of the 2022 presidential election vindicated Chebukati and his staff.

During the forum, the President urged the commissions and independent offices to learn from Chebukati's experience and remain steadfast in advancing their constitutional mandates.

"Chebukati’s experience and fine example brings home in graphic detail the implicit admonition of the constitution. Commissions and independent offices are the auditors of the auditors; they watch over the watchmen,"said Ruto.

On Monday, the three exiting IEBC Commissioners led by Chebukati requested President Ruto to institute a public inquiry into what transpired at the Bomas of Kenya during the period preceding the declaration of the outcome of the August 9th, 2022 General Election.

Chairman Wafula Chebukati, whose six-year tenure came to an end on January 17, 2022, singled out members of the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) whom he accused of attempting to interfere with the process, terming actions of the State operatives during the 2022 polls as the greatest attempt to usurp the will of the people.

"Intimidation of the members by some of the National Security Advisory Council members to moderate results which was against the people... the gravity of these attempts to subvert the will of the people cannot be wished away or swept under the carpet because they could come again," said Chebukati. The outgoing IEBC boss was speaking during their last day in office where he presided over the launch of the post-election evaluation report auditing the 2022 polls.