An aide to former President Mwai Kibaki has come out to strongly condemn allegations made by Royal Media Services owner Samuel Kamau Macharia.
The media mogul, popularly referred to as SK Macharia, caused a political stir after he told Parliament that Raila Odinga had won the 2007 presidential election where Kibaki was declared the winner.
However, Marangu Marete, who managed the former President’s campaign in 2007 denied the claims made by Macharia.
Marete wondered why the wealthy media owner had waited for nearly a decade to make the claims that have no value to the country.
“Kibaki did not steal the election. That was nine years back. What benefit is there to say the election was stolen?” the former campaign manager wondered.
The Citizen TV owner was challenged to release the statistics that showed Odinga’s win.
“Can he [Macharia] produce those statistics. We would like to see them. Anybody who looked at the results closely will know Kibaki did not steal the election,” the political operative stated.
Marete further accused Macharia of dishonesty, noting that he had failed to testify before the Kriegler commission that investigated the 2007 election results and reported that it was impossible to tell who had won in the presidential race.
“The guy [Macharia] was there in 2008 when there was the Kriegler Commission. If he had the information, why didn’t he bring it?” he asked rhetorically.
While appearing before a Senate committee collecting views on the recently passed election laws, the media mogul noted that the 2007 statistics were crystal clear that Mr Odinga emerged top.
"Raila Odinga won the 2007 election, the loser of that election MWAI KIBAKI was declared winner," Macharia said.
He added: "The one who was declared the winner in 2007 was not the winner. We tracked all the results through satellite phones. As per my records, Raila won the elections."
