Leaders have condemned the alleged threatening leaflets warning certain communities to vote in a particular manner in Eldoret.
Led by Limuru Member of Parliament Peter Mwathi who is also the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security, the leaders claimed Deputy President William Ruto was the one behind the distribution of the leaflets.
The leaders have said the leaflets are meant to ignite ethnic tensions in the country.
Interior Principal Karanja Kibicho revealed that the government was aware of leaflets containing warnings targeted at the electorate in certain areas.
He said the messages warned of dire consequences should the electorate fail to vote for certain candidates during the August 9 General Election.
“To our dismay, we’re aware of leaflets warnings the electorate of dire consequences should they fail to vote for certain candidates on August 9,” Kibicho said on his Twitter handle.
Kibicho warned that those behind such threats will be dealt with in accordance with law adding that a multi-agency team had already been dispatched to handle the matter.
“A multi-agency security team is pursuing the authors and distributors of the leaflets for a swift and deserved date with the justice system,” he stated.
Ruto claimed that leaflets coercing people to support a particular faction were distributed by people from the office of the President.
Speaking in Eldoret today, the DP said that he knows the people behind the distribution of the leaflets.
“Those who are sponsoring evil, those who are sponsoring pamphlets, we know you,” Ruto said.
He called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to warn certain individuals at his office to desist from causing unrest in the country.
“The DCI tried to bring issues of post-election violence, he was told off by the president. I want to tell my friend President, the same way you told off DCI boss George Kinoti when he started that nonsense of post-election violence please tell off the characters at the office of the president who are now printing pamphlets to cause disharmony in the Republic of Kenya, they need to stop because they are not about to succeed,” he said.
Kenyatta’s former speechwriter has also alleged a State-backed scheme to destabilize Rift Valley following the emergence of leaflets containing inciteful messages in Eldoret.
Eric Ngeno, who served as State House’s Senior Director for Messaging between May 2013 and June 2022, was reacting to reports by Kibicho.
“Your clever antics are going to earn you a date with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. That’s OK if that’s what you want. But if that happens, you will also have returned Uhuru Kenyatta to the dock as the First Accused. I hope you have thought about that,” Ngeno said.
The credibility of elections in Rift Valley could be undermined if the authorities fail to provide adequate security to all and ensure that those who want to vote are able to do so.
In 2017, Rift Valley region was immersed in insecurity and forced displacement that potentially kept thousands of people from voting in the August 2017 national elections.
Though an election alliance has brought together the two largest ethnic groups in the region, the Kikuyu and Kalenjin, and helped avert large-scale violence during the 2013 polls, the task of reconciliation is far from complete.
The government has failed to heal rifts created by multiple prior rounds of political bloodshed and violent land disputes.