Kithure Kindiki on Bomas chaos: It was an attempted coup

Prof. Kithure Kindiki has claimed that the chaos witnessed at the Bomas of Kenya on August 15, 2022 before the declaration of his client, William Ruto, as President-elect was carefully orchestrated in order to install an unconstitutional government.

Kindiki, in his submissions before the Supreme Court on Thursday, alleged that senior State officers were behind the invasion of the dais at Bomas on the said day in a bid to deny Ruto what he termed as a deserved victory in the presidential contest.

While terming this as treason, Kindiki pleaded with the Supreme Court to put the events of the Bomas chaos into consideration while adjudging the main presidential election petition presented by Raila Odinga.

“We respectfully submit that the activities at the National Tallying Centre on August 15, 2022 regrettably perpetuated by emissaries, agents, supporters and sympathizers of the 1st petitioner, who is now before this court seeking redress, amount to nothing short of a flagrant attempt to overthrow the Constitution of our country, to subvert the sovereign will of the people of Kenya contrary to Article 1 of the Constitution,” stated Kindiki.

“It is our view that those events alone constitute nothing but an attempt to establish a government unconstitutionally, contrary to Article 3(2) of the Constitution. In our humble and respectful view, the events of that day are basically an attempted but failed coup’d’état.”

He added: “Unfortunately, the jurisdiction of this court under Article 140 does not allow it to punish this egregious act of treason. But these events must inform the context in which the main petition and its offshoots ought to be adjudged.”

Kindiki further lamented that despite officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) being injured in the chaos, the relevant State agencies are yet to record statements from any of the perpetrators.

He also likened the Bomas chaos to the January 6, 2021Capitol Building insurrection following the election loss of then U.S President Donald Trump.

“On August 15, 2022 a mob of people – including people holding senior positions as State officers – invaded the dais at the National Tallying Centre of the presidential election at the Bomas of Kenya. In what I regard as an orchestrated and clear attempt to interfere with the powers of the IEBC to declare the presidential results following the verification and tallying of those results. As a result, chaos erupted, several IEBC commissioners, staff and other people who were lawfully at the tallying centre were seriously injured,” he stated.

“To date, nobody has been asked to even write a statement on what happened on that day. To date, no investigations whatsoever have been made by the agencies of State. And to date, this heinous and frontal attack on our democracy remains unresolved, and the perpetrators are marauding around the country, and some of them are in this courtroom.”

Kindiki also said: “The events on that fateful day mirror what, in our respectful view, took place on January 6, 2021 when a rowdy gang of violent protestors laid siege on Capitol building in Washington DC, USA following the spectacular defeat of Donald Trump as president of that country in the 2020 election.”