Deputy President William Ruto's presidential running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, has accused the Azimio la Umoja team of slowing down the verification of Forms 34A and 34B at the National Tallying Centre located at the Bomas of Kenya.
In a statement dated Saturday, August 13, Gachagua stated that their opponents were causing controversies at the tallying centre in order to delay the process ahead of the official declaration of the president-elect.
Further, the outgoing Member of Parliament defended their agents accused of causing the fracas that happened at the Bomas on Friday, August 12.
"Our business right now is verification of Forms 34A and 34B at the National Tallying Center. The process is rather slow as Azimio agents keep delaying the exercise but our agents are patient, disciplined and respectful to the IEBC officials.
"If the pace is maintained and they are restrained from causing further unnecessary delays, the winner of the presidential vote should be announced before the end of tomorrow, Sunday," Gachagua stated.
He also expressed confidence in the process, adding that anybody can now tell who the winner of the elections is.
"You are encouraged to visit the IEBC portal and with a simple calculator, add the numbers to know the winner such that the announcement by the National Returning Officer will be a mere formality."
Gachagua, who made the statements after the Azimio team held a meeting of elected leaders at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), expressed that Azimio's claim of winning majority of seats in the country was part of its sideshows.
He urged their supporters to remain calm as they await the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman, Wafula Chebukati, to formally announce the winner of the presidential report.
The verification of the Forms 34A and 34B at the National Tallying Center was temporarily halted yesterday (August 12) after Azimio and UDA agents clashed following claims of interference in the verification process.
Consequently, the electoral body was forced to set ground rules to govern the process.
IEBC has so far verified and announced results from 84 constituencies out of the 290 Forms 34B submitted at Bomas by Returning Officers.
