Members of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) have finally responded to claims made against the organ in affidavits filed at the Supreme Court in the ongoing election petition.
In the response, the security chiefs denied claims by IEBC commissioner Prof. Abdi Guliye, who said that they wanted the chairman Wafula Chebukati to alter the results of the Presidential Election.
In an affidavit on Monday, NSAC members Kennedy Kihara and Joseph Kinyua termed claims that they visited the Bomas of Kenya to try to subvert the will of the people as “unfounded and a total misrepresentation of the events of August 15, 2022.”
According to Kinyua and Kihara, their visit to the National Tallying Centre in Bomas was occasioned by the delay in the declaration of the presidential results.
IEBC Commissioner Abdi Guliye
“The said meeting of 15th August, 2022 was necessitated by the fact that the NSAC in the discharge of its mandate, had become seized of information to the effect that apparent delays in declaring the results of the presidential elections, and the manner in which results were being transmitted, including the stoppage of the public display of results had generated considerable public anxiety and tension and risked creating the opportunity for chaos, violence, and insecurity in parts of the country,” they said in the affidavit.
NSAC added that the constitution stipulates that the results of the Presidential election had to be declared before August 16, but it was not clear whether the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Wafula Chebukati would meet the timelines.
They added that they also wanted to find out if the commission was facing any challenges since they had stopped public display of results.
“The NSAC had observed that the delay in the declaration of presidential election results was unprecedented in Kenya’s history.”
In his affidavit, Guliye said that Principal Administrative Secretary at the office of President Kennedy Kihara, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, and Vice Chief of the Defense Forces Lt. General Francis Omondi Ogolla visited Bomas on August 15.
He said that the group asked him and the IEBC Chair to influence the outcome of the presidential election held on August 9, 2022, in favor of a particular candidate.
