After a long wait, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced Deputy President William Ruto as the country's president-elect.
The events leading to the announcement, however, reminded the country of circumstances that surrounded the announcement of the disputed 2007 presidential election by the late Samuel Kivuitu, who was at the time the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) National Returning Officer.
Here is a comparison and contrast on how the two returning officers, who ran the commissions during different eras, handled the announcement of the presidential results.
Security
In 2022, a contingent of police officers were strategically stationed at Bomas of Kenya hours before IEBC Chairperson, Wafula Chebukati, arrived to deliver his final verdict.
The security, which comprised of the elite General Service Unit (GSU) officers as well as their counterpart from the Kenya Police, were placed both inside of the premises as well as outside.
Chebukati, the man of the moment, was also manned by a contingent of security officers who were able to quell chaos that erupted when he prepared to make the announcement, ensuring that the process proceeded peacefully.
In 2007, the script was a little different for Kivuitu who, in a later interview, noted that he was under pressure to announce the winner. At the time, it was the then sitting President Mwai Emilio Kibaki, who was declared the winner.
Kivuitu was escorted by a team of security officials to make the announcement in what he later revealed that he was under pressure to do.
Political alignment
Most of the political players in the 2022 presidential race also played critical roles during the 2007 elections that pitted Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) against Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
At the time, the current Azimio presidential running mate, Martha Wangari Karua, was an ardent defender of the then Head of State while Ruto was a member of ODM.
Raila argued that there were malpractices in the electoral process that led to the declaration of Kibaki as the president-elect.
“Some PNU (Party of National Unity) and ODM-Kenya leaders put me under pressure by calling me frequently, asking me to announce the results immediately," stated Kivuitu in a later interview.
In 2022, the cards were shuffled landing Karua as the running mate of the former Prime Minister in the quest to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Moments before Chebukati's announcement, Azimio la Umoja held a press conference accusing the National Returning Officer of malpractices in his handling of the election.
"We have intelligence reports that the IEBC system was penetrated and hacked and that some of the IEBC officials had actually committed intellectual offences and some of them ought to be arrested.
"We were not in any position to ask our party leader to come before we actually verify results, which we have not done," stated National Chief Agent for Azimio la Umoja Coalition, Saitabao Ole Kanchory.
Observers Reaction
In 2007, the European Union, which had representatives observing the election discredited the presidential results, demanding an independent audit of the same.
In his interview, Kivuitu noted that he was under pressure from the EU to hold onto the results until all complaints had been dealt with.
“We are culprits as a Commission. We have to leave it to an independent group to investigate what actually went wrong,” stated Kivuitu.
In 2022, a majority of the foreign observers had exited Bomas of Kenya before Chebukati's arrival to announce the results.
That was a contrast from their earlier statement praising the peaceful nature the poll, with Chebukati at the helm of IEBC.
The observers are, however, yet to issue their assessment of the polls.
Call for Resignation
The 2022 election is Chebukati's second and final election and he is lawfully allowed to handle since joining the Commission as its Chairman in January 2017 and scheduled to serve for six years.
Throughout the duration, Chebukati carried his mandate with the promise of ensuring that he sees his term till the end date.
Kivuitu, on the other hand, revealed in an interview that he had contemplated resigning after experiencing immense amount of pressure from the then political parties.
“I had thought of resigning, but I thought against it because I did not want the people to say I was a coward,” he revealed.
