We're Not Computer Generated, President Uhuru Says in Response to Raila's Petition

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday night filed a detailed response to Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s Presidential petition at the Supreme Court and dismissed claims that there were electoral irregularities as alleged by the opposition chief.

In his 10-page affidavit sworn by Uhuru, he took issue with the former Prime Minister over what he termed disparaging his win and alleging that he was “computer-generated” President.

Uhuru argues that the huge margin of over one million votes clears any doubts that he won the election fairly and squarely.

“Despite such a clear poll victory, the 1st Petitioner (Raila) has continuously disparaged the electoral win and coined such demeaning remarks as ‘computer-generated leaders’. The Deputy President and I are not computer-generated leaders (“vifaranga vya computer”). The electoral victory was effected by the Kenyan voters,” Uhuru swore.

In the affidavit, he further argues that difference between his votes and Raila’s was 1,401,286, a significant gap that show the sovereign will of the people of Kenya.

The President uses a map of Kenya to illustrate his party's performance in the elections, with almost two-thirds of it shaded in red colo showing the regions Jubilee Party won and one-third in blue showing areas where Raila won.

Uhuru further cites aggressive campaigns with his deputy where they adressed more than 600 rallies across the country as one key contributing factors to his victory.

“In addition, during the campaign period, the Deputy President and I made significant inroads in areas hitherto regarded as Opposition zones,” Uhuru said.

He also argues that the fact that Jubilee won a majority of positions in the other five elections for governor, Senate, woman representative, National Assembly, and Members of the County Assembly further legitimizes his reelection.

He similarly uses a map of Kenya to show large swathes painted in the ruling coalition’s colours to indicate Jubilee’s overwhelming victory across all other seats.

In the response, he cites that Jubilee clinched 25 seats each for the positions of governor, senator and woman representative, in addition to secured a majority of positions in the National Assembly (140), with the second party, ODM, garnering 61 seats. Uhuru Jubilee says 582 elected Members of the County Assembly are from Jubilee against the second party, ODM’s 338.

He also attributes his win to the great efforts he made to transform the country; delivery of promises in the Jubilee manifesto and the inclusive government that he presided over.

He describes his victory in the General Election as “remarkable, demonstrable and cannot be assailed in any democratic society”.

“Our strategy succeeded as demonstrated by the electoral results in all the six elections as depicted by the various graphs in paragraph 7 and 8 above,” Uhuru argued.

President stated that the election were conducted peacefully and in accordance with the law and international practice, thus ruling out the not free and fair claims by Raila.

“I deny that I contravened the rule of law and the principles of the conduct of a free and fair election through the use of intimidation, coercion of public officers and improper influence of voters as pleaded by Mr Odinga. The allegations are devoid of any evidentiary or legal basis,” he swore.

The President also poked holes on claims of electoral malpractice made by one of Raila’s witnesses, Nyangasi Oduwo. He denied ever corrupting or influencing voters as claimed by the NASA leader.

The President also denies intimidating any Government officials on the campaign trail, and rubbished clams he violated the electoral code of conduct by launching projects and dishing out goodies to the public during his campaigns.

“I deny that while addressing campaign rallies in Makueni, I threatened local chiefs who were allegedly not campaigning for me. My remarks on that occasion were reported out of context. The true position is that I was cautioning chiefs not to depart from their obligation to maintain political neutrality,” said Uhuru.

The President further defends a massive media campaign by the Government during the elections to highlight Jubilee achievements over the last five years, arguing that they too, (Opposition) had freedom to tell the public what they had achieved.

Jubilee deputy presidential chief agent Winifred Guchu in the affidavit also argues that there were no significant numerical discrepancies between Form 34A (polling station results) and Form 34B (constituency tally) as claimed by Dr Oduwo in his affidavit in support of Raila’s petition.

“I now produce a report that demonstrates that after reconciling discrepancies in the forms attached to Oduwo’s affidavit, the net effect is that the petitioner’s tally improves by 595 votes while that of JP candidates decreases by 1199 votes.”