Nasa says Uhuru Kenyatta terrorised its supporters

Nasa leaders address the public at a rally at Jacaranda grounds, Nairobi County, on November 12, 2017. The coalition filed a response to a presidential election petition, claiming that President Uhuru Kenyatta terrorised its supporters. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Nasa says the President and his agents deployed violence, intimidation, improper influence and corruption on voters perceived to be Nasa supporters.
  • Nasa adds that improper influence and corruption was manifest in Jubilee’s attempts to woo Mr Odinga’s supporters.
  • It wants the October 26 repeat presidential election annulled.

President Uhuru Kenyatta intimidated National Super Alliance (Nasa) supporters after the August 8 election to discourage them from participating in the repeat poll, the Opposition has said.

Nasa, in its response to the presidential election petition at the Supreme Court, says that President Kenyatta resorted to improperly and corruptly luring Opposition supporters and politicians to his side as he campaigned for the October 26 repeat poll.

'ANNUL ELECTION'

The Opposition has also intensified its fight with foreign envoys and singled out US Ambassador Robert Godec and UK’s Nic Hailey, accusing them of acting as public relations officers for the electoral commission.

Nasa is a respondent in the petition filed by Mr Njonjo Mue and Mr Khelef Khalifa.

The coalition indicates that it agrees with the activists’ assertion that the re-election of President Kenyatta should be annulled, again.

The Opposition’s argument is hinged on two main assertions: that its supporters were so terrorised they could not come out to vote, and that the electoral commission was so compromised it was no longer independent and could not guarantee a credible election.

TARGETS

The coalition says that President Kenyatta and his allies and agents set up an elaborate systematic policy to ensure the repeat election was not held in a free, fair and credible manner.

“Towards this end, the President and his agents deployed violence, intimidation, improper influence and corruption and more so upon the voters, especially those perceived to be supporters of Nasa,” the coalition says in its responses.

To support this assertion, Nasa cited reports by independent groups which allege that the police deliberately targeted Nasa supporters in extrajudicial killings, maiming, rape, destruction of property and use of excessive and unreasonable force.

The reports were by Kenya Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, the Election Observations Groups and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit.

The coalition also cites the existence of the Nairobi Business Community, which they say is Mungiki in disguise, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi’s references to Chinkororo, and the dressing and mannerisms of the Jubilee Women’s Brigade as proof of the intimidation attempts.

This was in addition to the withdrawal of Mr Raila Odinga and Mr Kalonzo Musyoka’s security.

INFLUENCE

Nasa adds that improper influence and corruption was manifest in Jubilee’s attempts to woo Mr Odinga’s supporters through meetings at the State Houses in Nakuru and Nairobi.

The Opposition says public officers were used in campaigns and school buses used to transport the delegations that met the President.

The alliance further argues that there was corrupt enticement of politicians who formerly supported Mr Odinga and lists the politicians as: former Vihiga Governor Moses Akaranga, former governor candidate for Bungoma Alfred Khangati, former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, former Kajiado Governor David Nkedianye and Mr Joseph Tiampati, who vied for the Narok governor’s seat on the ODM ticket.

Nasa says the decision by its leaders to withdraw was made after evaluating the atmosphere of violence and intimidation created by President Kenyatta and the failure by the IEBC to create a level playing field for the candidates.

MANIPULATION

Using Mr Wafula Chebukati’s own words and Dr Roselyn Akombe’s missives from New York as evidence, Nasa also argues that there was improper influence and manipulation at the commission.

It says that the partisan legal advice at the IEBC was the result of Mr Chebukati consulting Mr Evans Monari, who was President Kenyatta’s lawyer.

Mr Monari, Nasa says, had been retained to represent the IEBC in a case in which former Kilome MP Harun Mwau was challenging the legality of the October 26 election, before it was held.

In his first case before the fresh poll, just like in his second petition that is now before the Supreme Court, Mr Mwau argues that the election would be illegal if fresh nominations were not conducted.

ENVOYS

Further, the coalition says, Jubilee Party, and particularly Deputy President William Ruto, had “on various occasions explained and defended to the public positions taken by the IEBC.”

Mr Musalia Mudavadi roped in the West in its case, alleging that foreign envoys had become part of the improper influence on the independence of the commission.

“The IEBC fell under the improper influence of various foreign envoys particularly Robert Godec the Ambassador of the USA and Nic Hailey the UK High Commissioner to Kenya who on many occasions acted as the Public relations officers of the commission,” said Mr Mudavadi.