Mungatana slams Kioni over election rigging claim
Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana (above) yesterday hit out at Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni over claims that Opposition Chief Raila Odinga won the last presidential election.
Mungatana accused Kioni of showing disrespect to independent institutions such as the electoral commission which declared Ruto the winner of the election, and the Judiciary which affirmed the victory following a petition disputing the results.
Kioni had on Wednesday claimed that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) rigged the presidential election in favour of Ruto.
Mungatana, while speaking at Parliament Building yesterday, said: “It is irresponsible for Kioni to come up with a piece of paper to allege that the elections were rigged. Is the piece of paper more authentic than what the IEBC said?”.
On Wednesday, the Jubilee Party Secretary General claimed that Raila won the August 9, 2022, presidential election with 8.17 million votes, or 57.53 percent of the votes cast, while Ruto garnered 5.91 million votes (41.66 per cent.
Kioni pegged his figures on an anonymous whistle-blower.
Said Mungatana: “We have a responsibility, as leaders, to respect our institutions. And if he cannot respect IEBC, let him respect the Supreme Court. You are a learned person. If you want to do things, come with credible information. You don’t come with a piece of paper and say that a person who is not identified has the truth,” he said.
“We want the opposition to thrive. We want the opposition to do its work. But holding us into account does not mean coming up with an unauthenticated piece of paper,” he said. - Rawlings Otieno
