Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga on Wednesday claimed that the database of the commission responsible for conducting and supervising elections as prescribed by their Act of Parliament had been hacked and vote tallies changed in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He asserted that “unknown people” used the log-in of the commission’s murdered ICT manager Chris Msando.
“We have caught them. Hackers gained entry into the election database through Msando’s account and directly into chairman Wafula Chebukati’s account,” he said.
Raila released an eight-page statement outlining how the system was hacked and information altered. A 52-page technical addendum containing details.
His claim sent the electoral body, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission [IEBC] into ‘manual’ mode where its chairman, Wafula Chebukati asked to check crucial forms 34A.
As the 34A forms were being compared with what was transmitted from polling stations, Raila further released results of his own which were parallel to what came from tallying centres, showing he won 8.1 million votes against President Uhuru Kenyatta’ 7.2 million.
IEBC provisional figures had on Wednesday displayed Uhuru with 7.9 million and Raila 6.5 million votes.
Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm, but added: “I don’t control the people.”
“You can only cheat the people for so long,” he said. “The 2017 general election was a fraud.”
According to The Guardian, those are some of the words Raila Odinga, who has ran for Kenya’s top job four times, three times with no luck said that sparked off out rage among residents in Kisumu, Odinga’s hometown.
They took to the streets in anger burning tyres while shouting: “No Raila, no peace.” Police responded with tear gas.
Al Jazeera reports that Kisumu voters and Nyanza region as a whole backed Odinga overwhelmingly in his presidential bids. In 1997, 2007 and 2013, they patiently cast their votes and held their breaths as counting began.
Many here feel, at 72 this is Odinga’s last chance. The engineer-turned-politician has promised to serve only one term in office if he wins this 2017 election.
Last night, as residents of the city went to bed for the second night since they cast their ballots, plenty of prayers were said in the hope that the provisional results are untrue and that “Baba”, name they affectionately call Raila, will be named Kenya’s fifth president and be the first from his tribe to do so.
male@ugchristiannews.com
