Kenyatta takes lead as Odinga disputes poll
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appeared headed for re-election on Wednesday, but rival Raila Odinga claimed a hacking attack had manipulated results, ratcheting up tensions in opposition strongholds.
Police fired tear gas to disperse a few hundred protesters in Kisumu in western Kenya and in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, with Odinga’s supporters setting up burning barricades and blocking roads, AFP reporters said.
With votes from 95% of polling stations counted, electoral commission (IEBC) results showed Kenyatta leading, with 54% of the more than 14-million ballots tallied against Odinga’s 44.7%. “These results are fake, they cannot be credible,” Odinga said in the early hours of Wednesday as results streamed onto a public website via an electronic tallying system aimed at preventing fraud. The IEBC said the results could not be considered valid until they were verified by original documents from polling stations.
Odinga’s accusations, and the reaction of his supporters, again raised the spectre of electoral violence in Kenya, still traumatised by the memory of bloody post-poll clashes a decade ago that left 1,100 people dead and 600,000 displaced.
Odinga detailed accusations of a large hacking attack on the electronic system, saying hackers had gained entry to the system using the identity of top IT official Chris Msando, who was found murdered and tortured late in July .
“This is an attack on our democracy. The general election was a fraud,” said Odinga, claiming detailed evidence of the hacker’s movements.
He would not say how he got the information, as he wanted to “protect his source”.
Odinga, who is making his fourth bid for the presidency as the flag-bearer for the National Super Alliance coalition, accused his rivals of stealing victory from him through poll rigging in 2007 and in 2013.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati insisted the election was “free and fair“.
“As a commission, we shall carry out investigations to establish whether or not the [hacking] claims are true,” he said, adding that the IEBC had a week to release final results.
Raphael Tuju, secretarygeneral of Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party, urged the opposition to “look at the figures soberly” and accept the results.
Odinga urged his supporters to “remain calm as we look deep into this matter”.