Former Attorney General Amos Wako has argued that election results could easily be tampered with while giving his submissions during the bipartisan talks at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday, October 2, 2023.
Wako, while insisting that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers must be opened, stated that election results announced by electoral commissioners could be completely different from what is captured by the servers.
While praising the commission which conducted the 2002 general election, the former AG noted that he could have tampered with the results of the 2002 general election which is perceived as the most credible election ever held in Kenya, if he wanted.
The former Busia Senator stressed that the 2002 elections were only credible because the electoral commissioners did not subvert the will of the people.
Kudos to 2002 commissioners
He said this while responding to EALA MP Hassan Omar who had urged losers to inculcate the culture of conceding after elections, and referencing the 2002 general election. Despite agreeing to have the IEBC servers opened, and opened immediately after election in the future, in order to avoid after-election contestations, Omar insisted that the issue of the 2022 polls server had been dealt with at the Supreme Court.
"You make a very flowery reference to the elections of 2002, and that there was a bipartisan IEBC, as a product of the IPPG but also the margin of victory between Uhuru Kenyatta and the late Mwai Kibaki was so significant that no Tharaka Nithi would turn it around.
"But one greatest act of statesmanship that is corroborated by both president William Ruto and former Head of Public Service Sally Koskei is that when everybody was waiting for Moi to do the magic, the late president Moi asked Uhuru Kenyatta to concede.
"We need to have a culture of conceding elections," Hassan remarked.
And Wako replied; "The comments you have made about 2002 elections that it was such that they could not be tampered with. Who tells you that? I have been in the system, If I wanted to tamper with that I would have done it.
"I'm just saying this to give credit (to the electoral commissioners). Let's give credit where it is due. That the electoral commission did a good job in that election and announced results which reflected the wishes of the people of Kenya. And that that electoral commission was actually composed of people (commissioners), who were nominated by political parties of the day," he added.
"The server should be open, and it should be open and accessible to whoever wants to access it.
"I think it should be made clear to whoever comes to assist us that the servers should be open and we can only do that if we make it law that the server will be open as soon as results are declared," the former AG submitted.
The former Busia Senator further gave an example of the shambolic Gabon presidential election held in August 2023, noting that when the election servers were opened, the loser was found to be the winner contrary to what the electoral commissioners had announced.
Gabon example
"We have a recent example here in Gabon; what happened? Did the election commission announce so and so have won? But when they opened the server, what happened? And yet the gap in the results of the elections announced in Gabon was wider than the 2002 election (referring to Kenya's 2002 general election)," Wako said.
Amos Wako was among several people who gave their submissions to the dialogue committee today ( October 2, 2023).
The 10-member dialogue committee was set up to resolve a bitter political feud following a spate of deadly protests over electoral reforms and the high cost of living after the 2022 general election that saw William Ruto declared president.
Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga led a series of demonstrations early this year that compelled the Ruto led-government to set up the dialogue committee, in agreement with Azimio.
