Stop The Count: Waiguru Decries Broad Daylight Rigging

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru speaking during a tour in the US with Deputy President William Ruto on  March 5, 2022
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru speaking during a tour in the US with Deputy President William Ruto on March 5, 2022
DPPS

Kirinyaga Governor, Anne Mumbi Waiguru, has sounded an alarm over what she termed as broad daylight rigging of the gubernatorial election.

In a statement dated Wednesday, August 10, Waiguru alleged that two stuffed ballot boxes were sneaked into a tallying centre during the vote counting process.

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate called for an immediate stoppage of the counting process until she was assured of a free, fair and verifiable process.

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and UDA running mate Rigathi during a campaign tour in Kagio on August 3, 2022..jpg
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and UDA running mate Rigathi during a campaign tour in Kagio on August 3, 2022.
Anne Waiguru

"Rigging in broad daylight. Two ballot boxes with governors' ballots enter Kianyaga through the back door in broad daylight! They must be removed and counting must stop," Waiguru stated.

The governor went ahead to share photos of the two ballot boxes she claimed were being used to ferry the stuffed ballots with serial numbers 4411729 and 4189755.

Her accusations come barely days after she took an issue with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) after the Kirinyaga county ballot papers were sent to Kakamega.

"Since our ballot papers are in Kakamega and we are told there was no exact number per polling station, why didn’t IEBC notice the shortfall? Where are those ballots as we speak? When will they get here?" Waiguru wondered at the time.

The first-time Governor had also claimed that there were plans to intimidate the voters in her county in a bid to sabotage the total votes cast for UDA presidential candidate William Ruto.

On  August 8, IEBC Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, announced that he had suspended the gubernatorial election in Kakamega after a printing mismatch in the ballot papers.

Instead of the ballot papers having images of candidates Fernandes Barasa, Cleophas Malala, Cyrus Jirongo, the papers had those of Anne Waiguru, Purity Ngirici and Charles Kibiru.

A day after voting across the country closed, tallying of election results started with a number of politicians conceding defeat while others claimed they had been rigged out.

However, IEBC maintained that this year's election was the most transparent in the history of the country.

President Uhuru Kenyatta casting his vote in Kiambu County on August 9, 2022.
President Uhuru Kenyatta casting his vote in Kiambu County on August 9, 2022.
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