Former gubernatorial candidate Martha Karua has accused Deputy President William Ruto of tampering with the Kirinyaga Governor seat election during the August 2017 election.
Karua, who testified during the retrial of her suit challenging Governor Anne Waiguru's election, stated that senior security officials from the DP's office were sent to the county to interfere with the election to favour the Jubilee party candidate.
A certain Mr Lelasang, an alleged top officer at the DP's office, was mentioned in the testimony as having assisted in performing acts that could be deemed as illegal and irregular for the election.
Mwea West OCPD Swaleh Kiptoo was also mentioned by the former Justice Minister as having organised a secret meeting at Wang'uru Girls School, the region's tallying centre.
[caption caption="Martha Karua with DP William Ruto during 2017 election campaigns"]
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The disgruntled NARC-Kenya party leader alleged that returning officer Julius Maingi and Ms Anne Waiguru’s running mate Peter Ndambiri attended the afternoon meeting.
"I confronted them and Mr Maingi admitted meeting Mr Ndambiri but said he only greeted him.
"I was shocked because security and electoral officers are supposed to be neutral," Karua conveyed.
She went on to narrate that Jubilee party officials were assisted by police vehicles to bribe voters on the day of the election, in plain sight.
"At Kang'aru Primary School I found a Jubilee official being driven around in a police vehicle while dishing out money to voters. I asked the OCPD why he had surrendered his authority to a civilian and why the party official had not been arrested.
"I reported the incident to Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ben Kitili and to the county police commander," she testified.
[caption caption="Martha Karua with her lawyer Gitobu Imanyara"]
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