President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday night filed a response to the Presidential election petition filed by Opposition Leader Raila Odinga challenging his re-election.
In an affidavit filed by his lawyers, President Kenyatta submits seven main arguments as part of his defence.
1. Computer-generated results
The President dismissed claims that he and his deputy William Ruto are “computer-generated” leaders, noting that the huge margin of over one million votes left no doubt that they had won fair and square.
2. Aggressive Jubilee Campaigns
President Kenyatta submitted that his victory was based on aggressive campaigns with his deputy that saw them attend more than 600 rallies across the country.
“In addition, during the campaign period, the Deputy President and I made significant inroads in areas hitherto regarded as Opposition zones,” Uhuru stated.
3. Election was free and fair
Arguing against claims that the elections were unfair, the President stated that the polls were conducted peacefully and in accordance with the law and international practice.
He swore that the vague and general accusation made against him by Raila were untrue, without any backing and could not be proved in any court.
4. Threatening Government Officials
The President denied intimidating any Government officials during his campaigns and also denied violating the electoral code by initiating projects and issuing "goodies" during the campaign period.
“I deny that while addressing campaign rallies in Makueni, I threatened local chiefs who were allegedly not campaigning for me. My remarks on that occasion were reported out of context. The true position is that I was cautioning chiefs not to depart from their obligation to maintain political neutrality,” the President submitted.
5. Cabinet Secretaries
The President noted that he was not aware of any Cabinet Secretaries who actively campaigned for him and that in any event, Section 23 of the Leadership and Integrity Act exempted Cabinet secretaries from the requirement of political neutrality.
6. Development Projects
He explained that his victory was consequent to the great efforts made to transform the country; delivery of promises in the Jubilee manifesto and the inclusive government that he presided over.
7. Discrepancies in Form 34As and 34Bs
Through his Deputy Presidential chief agent Winfred Guchu, President Kenyatta argued that there were no significant numerical discrepancies between Form 34A (polling station results) and Form 34B (constituency tally) as submitted in Odinga's petition.
“I now produce a report that demonstrates that after reconciling discrepancies in the forms attached to Oduwo’s affidavit, the net effect is that the petitioner’s tally improves by 595 votes while that of JP candidates decreases by 1199 votes," the response read in part.
