Opposition chief Raila Odinga has asked IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati to stop acting Interior cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i from issuing summonses to him and other electoral body’s commissioners.
Raila claimed the Interior CS has been summoning IEBC officials to his office to supposedly discuss security matters ahead of the August 8 election.
He said the IEBC is an independent body and it was wrong for Matiang’i to run it like a department under his ministry.
“I talked about the minister of Internal Security (Interior and Coordination of National Government) the other day who has been summoning IEBC officials supposedly to talk about security matters but basically trying to blackmail them,” Raila who addressed a press conference at his Capitol Hill office on Thursday said.
“I saw President Uhuru Kenyatta and [Deputy President] William Ruto chest thumbing the other day at the Coast that I should leave Mr Matiang’i alone. I want to tell Mr Chebukati that if Matiang’i wants to see them let him go to their offices and stop summoning them like his children. That is against the IEBC independence.”
Deputy President William Ruto while on a campaign trail in Mombasa asked Raila to leave Matiang’i alone and stop linking him to politics.
Ruto defended the CS against the allegations by Raila that he is planning to rig the August polls in Jubilee’s favour.
“Let them compete with President Uhuru Kenyatta and I,” Ruto said on Wednesday in Changamwe.
Raila made the claims in Kibera on Tuesday saying the CS has been holding secret meetings with Chebukati and IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba to plot how to rig the presidential election.
“Matiang’i is trying to rig this election in the guise of acting on behalf of the State. We will not allow that to happen.”