Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has claimed that the vice chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Fahima Araphat Abdalla, is attempting to facilitate election malpractice in the Magarini constituency of Kilifi County during the upcoming by-elections on 27 November.
Speaking during a media briefing on Sunday, November 24, Gachagua claimed that the vice chairperson is unlawfully handing over the names of her preferred presiding officers, whom she wants to oversee elections in the constituency, to senior county officials.
Additionally, Gachagua alleged that the vice chairperson is also intimidating other senior officials of the IEBC overseeing elections in the area, including the returning officers, for them to compromise the elections.
Gachagua said that he will write a letter to the IEBC Chairman, Erastus Ethekon, this week so that he may take action against the vice chairman for trying to meddle with the by-elections.
"We were starting to have hope in the IEBC, but I have just received reports this morning that the IEBC vice chairperson is trying to interfere with the elections in Magarini. She is in a hotel where she met with senior County officials and has given out the list of presiding officers, who she wants to compromise the elections," Gachagua said.
"She is doing this, yet she knows that the elections there were nullified because of irregularities, and that is why I want to write to the chairperson of the IEBC to explain to me why the vice chairperson is meddling with the elections in Magarini, because no commission has been deployed there," he added.
According to Gachagua, if immediate action is not taken, the reputation of the commission is set to suffer more damage. Gachagua claims that the vice chairperson should resign from her position to ensure integrity and transparency, especially in the upcoming 2027 General Elections.
"If the vice chairperson is meddling with these by-elections, how will Kenyans even believe that the commission has the capacity to oversee the elections? I personally thought that the commission would ensure integrity in these elections for them to regain public trust," Gachagua said.
The allegations come two days after Gachagua claimed that some political figures are paying youths for their IDs in a plot to rig the November 27 by-election in Mbeere North.
Speaking during a media interview on Saturday, November 22, the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) said some leaders are approaching the youths in Mbeere North "to buy their IDs" for up to Ksh5,000 to prevent them from voting in the elections.
Gachagua further alleged that some leaders, mostly from President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance Party, are offering money to youths for them to divert their votes to their candidates.
"The Gen-Zs are the pillar of transformation in our country, because they are the ones who are opposing wrongdoings by the government, and they are the ones who have vowed to make Ruto a one-term It will be said for our Gen-Zs to accept money from the leader for them to choose someone else," Gachagua said.
"I'm waiting to see how our young people are going to behave because I will be extremely saddened when they are given money and they forget that they are the ones who started telling us to help them make Ruto a one-term," he added.
