Wiper deputy party leader, Farah Maalim, has accused top politicians in the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya for costing former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, the presidency.
Speaking during an interview on K24 TV on Tuesday, August 24, the Dadaab Member of Parliament-elect stated that the politicians opted to join Raila and his running mate, Martha Karua, on the national campaign trail instead of spreading to different parts of the country to drum up support for the Azimio leaders.
Maalim added that he had raised the issue but none of the politicians in the faction heeded to his advice.
"I said, don't just keep on moving around with Kalonzo, Raila and Martha, these political bigwigs. Go to your own backyards and deliver votes.
"I do not think that happened because they wanted that security for themselves so that they can secure their election. This cost us and there is no question about it," Maalim stated.
The Wiper leader explained that the politicians would have helped the Azimio leader popularise his agenda at the grass roots level, guaranteeing him a landslide win.
"Elections are very close and should not have been the case if all our members had done the right thing. If they did that they would have given Raila 90 per cent as I did myself."
On the issue of agents, Maalim explained that many politicians in the coalition decided to facilitate their own agents so as to safeguard the vote.
He explained that agents played an important role in ensuring that there is no electoral misconduct among the politicians.
"I had an agent in every polling station for one day. I paid them ten thousand shillings and made sure that someone would take them food. I spent over Ksh2 million. I would rather do that than go through what happened on 2013 and 2017," Maalim noted.
Insiders within the Raila-led faction have blamed the poor deployment of agents across the country for their defeat, with other leaders putting the blame on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
"Azimio agents were not allowed to enter the polling stations at the required time. The excuse they were being given was that their appointment letters did not have a stamp," Jubilee Party Secretary General, Jeremiah Kioni, alleged.
