How Chebukati won where Kivuitu failed

I saw him and paused. He had stopped to look for something in the men’s grooming section.

His hands were shaking. He could barely hold onto anything. He looked frail.

I pushed my trolley towards him. “Good afternoon, Sir, what can I help you pick?” He turned slowly and looked at me. He was a pitiful sight. The man had aged by almost 20 years since I last saw him. He stared at me curiously.

When he finally recognised me, his wrinkled face broke into a weak smile and he pointed towards the shaving cream. I picked it for him. We walked slowly as I helped him fill up his shopping basket. His gait was slow, hesitant and painful.

There was some commotion as shoppers gathered around us. What started as murmurs soon turned into heckling and shouts. Some began hurling insults at him, calling him the ‘devil incarnate’, and ‘the epitome of evil.’ I turned towards a young lady, the most vocal and rebuked her; “Do you know it’s an abomination to insult a man your father’s age? Do you know you are calling a curse upon yourself?”

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“I don’t care” she shouted, “This idiot stole our election victory and allowed the country to burn. He doesn’t deserve to live.”

Before I could respond to her tirades, someone spat in our direction. The yellowish phlegm missile was meant to land on his face, but it fell squarely on my neck. The burning glare on my face must have terrified the tall, dark spitting man. He fled. I suddenly turned from a shopper to a bodyguard. I helped the elderly man with clearing of payment at the till. We then walked to his car.

That was the last time I saw, Samuel Kivuitu, the former Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). 

He became an Outcast

After the electoral commission was disbanded, two years after the 2007 disputed presidential elections, Kivuitu recoiled into a life of solitude. He must have sunk into depression. A man who once walked tall and commanded respect from Kenyans and members of the international community, had become a pariah, an outcast.

Many blamed Kivuitu for the frightening turn that the country's history took following the declaration of Mwai Kibaki as president elect in the December 2007 presidential polls. Kibaki took oath of office under the cover of darkness in an event only announced on public broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). Soon after the swearing-in was made public, violence broke out in various parts of the country, plunging country into its darkest moment.

Kibaki had been declared winner in a contest between him and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), leader Raila Odinga and Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya leader Kalonzo Musyoka. Raila and his supporters accused Kibaki of stealing the vote. The ECK Chairman became the “demonic priest who presided over the ‘evil’ ceremony.”

The painful encounter with Kivuitu came flooding back to mind when I watched the frightening drama unfold at the Bomas of Kenya on August 15, 2022. Some people violently attempted to stop Wafula Chebukati, the then Chairman of the the electoral body, from declaring William Samoei Ruto, victor in the 2022 presidential polls.

I have learnt, from covering many political events and General Election, that Kenya is a gangster nation. Politicians, cartels and wheeler-dealers, invest billions of shillings in election campaigns. They will stop at nothing to capture key political offices especially the presidency.  

Awful Predictions

Many had predicted that the 2022 General Election would spark off worse bloodshed than the 2007/2008 post-election violence. Raila was making his fifth attempt at the presidency through the Azimio Coalition. For Deputy President William Ruto running under Kenya Kwanza Coalition, this was his first bid. Raila had one of the most powerful backings ever witnessed in Kenya’s electoral history. He was supported by; President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Kenyatta family, an entire government machinery and security apparatus, and a group of billionaires from Central Kenya.

Something was however eating up Chebukati. He was tormented by the debacle of the 2017 General Election. The electoral Commission had been censored by the Supreme Court after Raila Odinga challenged the declaration of Uhuru as president elect. The court ruled that the presidential election had been manipulated in favour of the incumbent. The election was invalid. The court ordered a new vote within 60 days.  

In 2022, Chebukati was intent on making amends by taking full responsibility as the IEBC Chairman. His team instituted a system that would guarantee a free, fair, transparent and verifiable elections. He was determined to exonerate himself from the legacy of the “Chairman known for bungled elections.” When the Supreme Court nullified the presidential poll in 2017, it set high standards. This forced the IEBC to fully and actively engage political parties, candidates and the public.   

The year 2017 was frightening for Chebukati and his team. There were many deaths related to election campaigns. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), said that a total of 92 people were killed by police and civilians in the aftermath of the August and October 2017 elections. The rights group said that 26 were killed after the October repeat election, 20 by unknown people and six by the police

Otsieno Namwaya, African researcher at Human Rights Watch, says of the 2017 polls; “The brutal crackdown on protesters and residents in the Western counties, part of a pattern of violence and repression in opposition strongholds, undermined the national elections”  

In 2017, the IEBC suffered its worst and most terrifying form of intimidation. Five days before the polls, the Commission’s acting director of information communication technologies Chris Musando, was abducted, tortured and murdered. The style of torture indicated that his killers were keen on extracting key information from him. 

A few days before he was murdered, Musando appeared on a live television segment. He demonstrated the Integrated Election Management System (IEMS), electronic vote counting system. Musando played a key role at IEBC. He was among the few people with the login information and knowledge of physical location of servers that ran the highly digitized election.

Musando had assured viewers that “Dead voters will not rise on my watch.” He placed his confidence in biometric data to verify voters using finger prints and an electronic system to transmit the results.

The use of technology was adopted following the fallout of the 2007 polls when accusations of ballot stuffing triggered weeks of violence. Kivuitu admitted that he was not sure who won. The torture Musando was subjected to is a clear indication of the level of desperation Kenyan power seekers will go, to win elections.

Heightened Tensions and Murder

Come 2022, and intimidations continued. Ethnic profiling intensified. Politicians would issue threats and warnings to IEBC commissioners and staff. IEBC employees and suppliers were arrested. Some were held incommunicado. Abductions and illegal detention of staff and service providers by states security, thrived.

In some parts of the country, commission staff and service providers were arbitrarily attacked and assaulted by hooligans and law enforcement agencies. Then, on August 11 2022, the IEBC Returning Officer for Embakasi East Daniel Musyoka disappeared from his station after he stepped out to talk on his mobile phone. His body was recovered in the Amboseli National Park on August 15, 2022. He was naked. Shivers ran down the spine of Chebukati and his team. Musando’s soul was still crying for justice and now Musyoka’s life had been snatched.

“We know that there was a direct attempt to abduct Wafula Chebukati and murder him so that the commission would be paralyzed, or a compliant commissioner take over and subvert the people’s sovereignty” said President William Ruto after assuming office.

Said the President; “It was a hard, cold and lonely time, the threats were dire. They promised lavish rewards and the pressure was relentless. We now know that Chebukati, Commissioners Abdi Yakub Guliye and Boya Molu, as well as CEO Hussein Marjan, and their staff, were offered stupendous financial rewards to corporate with the agents of impunity, but they bravely resisted”

They undermined Chebukati’s nature and character

If Kenyan politicians thought they would intimidate and control Chebukati, then they were in for a rude shock. Those who knew Chebukati say, he was a stickler for the law.

“Chebukati could be uncompromising and unforgiving. When differences arose between him and the then CEO Ezra Chiloba, one would have thought he would look for an amicable solution because the protraction was hurting the Commission he led. Some even thought that since they came from the same community he would not have liked to be seen as fighting his younger brother. But there were no negotiations, no informal gestures or undertones- everything was traded on Conqueror Paper!” recalls, Andrew Limo, former Communications and Public Affairs Manager, at the IEBC.

Limo says that as long the law was followed, Chebukati didn’t care about perceptions.

In 2017, some Commissioners resigned from IEBC in a haste. They returned one morning pleading with Chebukati to hear them out since they were still interested in staying on. He refused to meet them saying there was no room for those who had abandoned the Commission. “We never got to know what commissioners, Kurgat, Mwachanya, and Nkatha Maina, wanted. I remember pleading with him to give them some hearing, more so because I knew they had resigned in a haste and had not cleared formally with the Commission. He asked me "Limo, why do you want me to meet bad people? Tell them to put in writing the agenda of the meeting they want with me". Chebukati felt that they had abandoned him at a critical time. He could smell sabotage.

Limo says that, unknown to many, Chebukati also has great sense of humour. He used humour to diffuse tension especially at the start of meetings. “I think he needed it because most engagements at the Commission were tense because of the polarising nature of elections. He would also humanize his position by cracking a joke or two on what people said about him.”

Limo says that the nullification of the 2017 presidential poll and the killing of Chris Musando, were extremely low moments for Chebukati and the Commission. Limo captures the character of Chebukati that we saw at the Bomas of Kenya; “His adamancy can be suicidal. He is not a quitter.”

Limo argues that Chebukati begun mistrusting those he worked with after the polls were nullified. He felt the petition was allowed because of negligence by some of the people he worked with. He became more assertive. “One was either for him or against him.”

Chebukati became the second man, after Zacchaeus Chesoni to have successfully managed two general elections. Chesoni managed the 1992 and 1997 general elections under the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). Chebukati, a man described by his staff as being very formal, was added a lifeline by the handshake that brought Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila together. Serendipity and not survival enabled him stay long enough to manage two elections.

His Last Speech

During his last speech to the world as IEBC Chairman, on January 16, 2023, Chebukati said that he discharged his duties faithfully, impartially and to the best of his ability in respect and obedience to his oath of office.  

He said the IEBC was constantly under pressure to undermine its independence and to control its decision making and operations. “The 2022 General Election witnessed probably the gravest attempts to usurp the independence of the commission and the sovereign will of the people of Kenya as expressed in the polls,” said Chebukati.

Chebukati said that his worst and most frightful moment of intimidation came on Monday, August 15, 2022. He had earlier received an eerie visit from some members of the National Security Advisory Council who demanded that he moderates results in favour of a particular presidential candidate.

One of the IEBC Commissioners, Prof Abdi Guliye said that after Ruto was declared president elect, the commissioners had to secretly sneak out of the Bomas of Kenya. “We went into hiding, we had to put off our phones, leave them at Bomas, send away our security and we rode in a Noah car to an unknown location” while at the secret place, the commissioners followed happenings in the country on television. They kept checking whether Kenyans were killing each other or celebrating.

The Game Changer

Pundits say that in 2022, Chebukati disarmed many when the IEBC transmitted only the image of the election results form 34A using the Results Transmission System from the polling station to the National and Constituency Tallying Centre as well as the public portal. The Commission also deployed a secure public portal where election results form 34A, 34B and 34C were hosted for the nation and the world to access

Said Chebukati; “IEBC records indicate that over 386,000,000 logins to the portal and those that tallied got the same results as those posted from form 34C. This was the game changer in the election and elevated transparency in elections to a whole new level.”

Kenyan elections are extremely competitive and highly ethicized. It creates a poisonous atmosphere that exposes the IEBC staff to risks of physical harm and even death. Some IEBC staff get profiled during campaigns and public rallies. They become susceptible to attacks and even murder.

“It is time the nation had a candid discussion on the electoral system that the country should adopt to suit the circumstances of our country’s political anatomy” said Chebukati

He Refused to become a Kivuitu

By risking his life and refusing to play ball, Chebukati eschewed the path to oblivion taken by his forebearer, Samuel Kivuitu. There was however a difference between the two men and their intertwined careers.

While a section of Kenyans wants to throw up at the mention of Chebukati’s name, another section adores him and embraces him as a hero. President Ruto publicly lauded him. Kivuitu was quickly abandoned by the political class that put him in a mess. Mwai Kibaki, the man Kivuitu considered bosom friend, turned his back on him and moved on with the grand coalition government as if Kivuitu never ever existed. He was betrayed and abandoned. He carried the cross of politicians to his grave. Chebukati refused to bear the political cross.