Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has now spoken after a tweetstorm erupted on Sunday, May 17, indicating that Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo and the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth lost their parliamentary bids in the 2017 General Election.
The report that has been widely understood to be a mistake, shows that in Suba North, Noah Onyango Odhiambo carried the day with 27,208 votes against Millie’s 65 votes while in Kibra, Judah Martin Okoth beat Okoth with a margin of over 60,000 votes.
Speaking to a local news site, ODM Director of Communications Philip Etale stated that the error only vindicated the party for their 2017 demands that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) be disbanded and the electoral servers be opened for scrutiny by all parties.
“Our candidate for 2013 and 2017 was only Ken Okoth. That was a problem with IEBC which needs to be fixed. Anything and everything about IEBC is just a scam. It is an institution that has been dominated by individuals who did not want democracy to prevail.
“With such kind of revelations coming up it shows that it is time for a serious shakeup in that commission ahead of the 2022 elections because an election cannot be carried with it as currently constituted,” stated Etale.
He further noted that it was high time the commission got disbanded and that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) had a proposal to ensure that the commissioners were sent home.
“All commissioners must be replaced. We are pursuing the route of the BBI to fix IEBC and liberate this country. Remember the Supreme Court ruling that ordered them to open the servers but they declined?
“With the opening of the servers many things are going to be unearthed and we will be vindicated more and Kenyans will know the reason why we went to the streets to call for reforms of the IEBC,” he added.
He, however, preserved his comments on the likelihood that the party would seek a legal action noting that the party’s secretary-general (held by Edwin Sifuna) was more qualified to address the issue. Sifuna did not return our calls by the time of going to press.
Another victim of the IEBC mishap, who was ranked as an election winner but did not hold the Dagoreti South Seat, Dennis Waweru, rightfully confirmed that the data was erroneous upon seeing it.
Denis had reportedly beaten John Kiarie, the current seat holder, after garnering 55,675 against 12,708.
These errors were most shocking to the public since they still appeared more than three years after the election had taken place and even kept the data under lock and key despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2017.
