Oswago asks why other IEBC officials on tape are shielded

23 Apr 2014

Suspended Electoral Commission boss James Oswago Tuesday questioned why he was the only one being mentioned to be in a secret recording of a senior election official explaining malpractices in last year’s General Election.

Mr Oswago questioned why the three other Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission officials and a politician said to be in the recording were not mentioned. He insisted he was not the one depicted as a senior IEBC official who was speaking to a top ODM official in Luo.

“It is not true I’m the one who was speaking to somebody. The person who did the recording could be the one who distributed it. Why are they not saying who else in the commission they taped and why are they not releasing their names? Why are they just saying three staff members and hiding their names,” Mr Oswago questioned.

He also questioned whether those who did the investigations were probing him as an individual or the conduct of last elections. Mr Oswago said the investigators should have looked for evidence if it was said the results transmission equipment did not work or the register was faulty for Kenyans to know what went wrong.

He also branded the recording as discriminatory and a personal vendetta meant to have him removed from IEBC.

He said he listened to the recording and that the voices were distorted and the only one shown “is what they allege is mine”. “Three senior IEBC managers are referred to but their faces are not shown, and their voice not heard. Why is the CEO so special?” he asked.

Mr Oswago accused the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy of having abused him in various centres during the Siaya by-elections campaigns and that if it was a senior ODM official who is said to have interviewed a person alleged to be him in the tape, he would not have allowed the insults.

“Why would the official allow me to be abused for one year,” Mr Oswago said.

He said the interview in the recording lasted 30 days but had been condensed to appear as if it was done in one day in what he termed as dishonest.

“The identity of three senior IEBC managers and that of alleged ODM official is also hidden. It is like they were investigating an individual. You can only investigate an individual if he has done something very wrong,” Mr Oswago quipped.

He said if the secret recording was of his voice, it would also be fair to give recordings of other people. He added that an intelligence officer in Dholuo is referred to as fuambo or (a person who collects news) or okawalkich (intelligence) and not as portrayed in the tape aired by KTN.

The purported recording raises issues to do with results transmission, infiltration of the commission by the security agency and whether the commission had one or several registers. It also talks of personal relations between Mr Oswago and chairman Isaack Hassan and the perception that they represented Cord and Jubilee respectively.

Cord has demanded the disbandment of IEBC following the new revelations of electoral fraud.

Adapted from Daily Nation

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