Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni now claims that there was an elaborate rigging scheme that was carried out in the Mt. Kenya region during the 2022 General Elections, thereby denying their members and allies various seats.
Kioni, speaking to the press from the party headquarters on Wednesday, sought to dismiss claims that President-elect William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party swept Central Kenya, alleging that its candidates juggled their way to victory through poll malpractices.
“There was never a yellow wave in Mt. Kenya. What happened in Mt. Kenya was massive rigging done by multiple schemes from candidates and presidential candidate William Ruto,” he said.
The ousted Ndaragwa MP argued that the electoral process in the vote-rich region was filled with illegalities, among them the alleged denial of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party agents entry into polling centres.
“Our agents were denied access to the polling stations until 10am after we had complained to the national office. Any stealing of votes that had been planned already took place by the time our agents were allowed in,” he claimed.
“All Azimio agents were denied access to get in, the reason being the letter of appointment was not stamped and only allowed in at around 10 am when rigging had taken place.”
He also alleged that there were incidents of nepotism and ethnicity regarding the appointment of election officials in Nakuru, Nyandarua and Nyeri counties.
For instance, he claimed that most Deputy Returning Officers in Nakuru County were from one tribe while in Mbeere North, most Polling Officers were allegedly relatives of a leader allied to Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza alliance.
“The recruitments of Presiding Officers and Deputy Returning Officers in the Mt. Kenya region was done in such a way to facilitate rigging in favour of UDA,” Kioni stated.
“In Nakuru County, 10 out of 11 DPOs were from one tribe, and the other one was from the Turkana community. In Mbeere North Constituency and the larger Embu County, most of the POs were relatives of Justin Muturi and the local UDA candidates.”
The Jubilee SG further faulted the electoral process saying KIEMS kits malfunctioned in some areas during Election Day, adding that some stations did not adhere to timelines and there was also a shortage of ballot papers.
“In Nyeri County, 30 polling stations in Kieni, ballot papers got finished, the same scenario was also reflected in Tetu and Tharaka constituencies.… In Tharaka, voting began at 5pm and continued till midnight. Some opened from 8pm till 1am,” he alleged.
“They also had a low network. In Nyandarua County, KIEMS kits failed at 6pm, voting was suspended until 3am. Only 90 voters had been identified by that time by KIEMS kits.”
Kioni now wants the Supreme Court to nullify the elections reiterating that the Azimio team believes no election was done.
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