Opposition supporters during NASA leaders' tour of Ukambani region on June 10. facebook.co./Raila Odinga
Opposition chief Raila Odinga has reiterated the National Super Alliance (NASA) is well-equipped to ensure the August poll is no manipulated in favour of the ruling Jubilee coalition.
Raila on Wednesday said attempts by Jubilee to rig the election in advance will be publicised so that Kenyans know how “undemocratic” the current administration was.
On Tuesday while chairing a panel during the National Elections Conference (NEC) at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, the former premier highlighted how the IEBC is allegedly collaborating with the Jubilee administration to rig the August presidential poll in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s favour.
“The first step to democracy is dialogue,” he said.
“NASA will not relent in its pursuit for a free and fair election. The practice of manipulating the will of the people to protect a few is now dead in Kenya. The Kenyan people are awake and will not accept a rigged process.”
Raila, to date, maintains he won the 2007 and 2013 presidential elections but was rigged out by politicians out to protect the status quo.
Unlike in 2007 when he publicly protested the alleged vote rigging that led to Post Election Violence which claimed over 1,300 lives, in 2013, he challenged the poll outcome at the Supreme Court, then, headed by Dr Willy Mutunga.
During the NEC, he broke silence over the alleged relationship between top Jubilee politicians and the prominent Al Ghurair family of Dubai that owns the Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing Company which IEBC awarded the Sh2.5 billion tender to print ballot papers for the August election.
“Officials of the firm were in Kenya in October 2016 as head of the business delegation brought by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, during which trip they held further talks on this contract with Jubilee officials,” Raila said.
“As NASA, our stand remains that the involvement of this firm in this elections bodes ill and compromises credibility of the elections.”
During his last tour of the Coast region a week ago, Raila told Kenyans to prepare for a NASA victory in August. NASA claims over 10 million Kenyans support the coalition.