By Anderson Ojwang
The raging storm over the late Raila Amolo Odinga’s presidential agents in the 2022 general elections has taken a new twist, with the Jubilee Party asking coalition Secretary General Junet Mohammed to carry his own cross.
Similarly, Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior joined the debate and revealed how he was requested to allow his agents to double as presidential agents.
In the 2022 general elections, Kenya had 52,481 polling stations, and if Raila’s central team had procured agents nationally, Raila could have walked into the ballot with 52,481 votes, which could have denied Ruto victory of 50+1 per cent and forced a rerun.
On his X handle, Mutula wrote: “The raging debate on the funds for Azimio presidential agents has provoked my thoughts. On election day, I was requested to marshal my agents to double up as presidential agents, which was bizarre, to say the least.”
The issue of agents was also witnessed in diaspora polling stations. For instance, at the Ottawa polling station in Canada, Azimio La Umoja did not have a presidential agent, while Kenya Kwanza had two agents.
Kioni has defended former President Uhuru Kenyatta over allegations of redirecting the Sh500 million agents’ funds to his blood brother to manage, saying the buck stops with Junet.
He said Uhuru was engaged in resource mobilization and that resources were allocated to Azimio La Umoja for their intended purposes.
“Uhuru was engaged in fundraising, and resources were allocated to Azimio for the intended purposes, including the payment of agents. One of the individuals in charge of managing these funds was the Secretary General, and you know who the SG of Azimio is. If we had managed it well, there is every likelihood that Raila would be in State House alive, having secured proper medical attention,” Kioni said.
Kioni said Uhuru should not be drawn into a debate where the public knows where the buck stops, which is with the Secretary General of Azimio.
He wrote on his X handle: “Attempts to turn our party leader, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, into a bogeyman is a dead end for this regime and those aligned to it.”
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, on Saturday, without mincing his words, laid the blame for Raila’s bungled presidential campaign on the doorstep of Azimio La Umoja Secretary General Junet Mohammed.
Sifuna accused Junet of bungling Raila Amolo Odinga’s campaign by failing to pay presidential agents.
“You were eating Uhuru’s money instead of paying agents and allowed Wamunyoro (Rigathi Gachagua and President William Ruto) to defeat us.
The day we start the audit of the 2022 elections, it is good that you have started the debate. Let everyone say their contributions in the 2022 general elections.
I want to ask Junet Mohammed, when did Uhuru Kenyatta’s money start to be bad? Those days you used to take Uhuru’s money, some you didn’t bring to the party, and some you squandered,”he said.
The Azimio La Umoja Volunteer Board, through one of its members, Ronny Raburo, said it was wrong for Junet to shed crocodile tears after failing to address the Central Kenya agents’ issue.
Raburo, who met the late Raila at breakfast ahead of the elections over the emerging presidential agents’ issue in Central Kenya, said the former Prime Minister tasked Junet to urgently handle the matter.
Ronny Raburo said that despite addressing the agents’ issue with Raila at a breakfast meeting and detailing Junet to urgently handle the matter, the latter went mute.
He said that two days to the eve of polling day, while attending the last agents’ training at the Kenya School of Law in Karen, they were informed from the ground that there was not a single agent in all the Central Province polling stations for IEBC briefing, and they sensed trouble.
“Raila called Junet and told him to handle our issue as a matter of urgency. We went downstairs with Junet to meet Julie Nabwera and Jackie (members of the volunteer board) after our briefing on the situation in Central Kenya.
Junet gave me his number to call him later in the day to meet him at the Kenya School of Law, Karen. Junet is yet to receive my calls to date,”he wrote.
Junet accused Uhuru of releasing the agents’ funds to his brother and not to the secretariat.
“The answer is simple, clear and verifiable: former President Uhuru Kenyatta released the funds meant for election agents to his blood brother, Muhoho Kenyatta,” he said.
Junet said Muhoho Kenyatta, whom he claimed appointed one Mr Patrick Mburu, took charge of the recruitment and payment of agents.
“Mr Mburu presented himself as an IT expert, claiming he had the capacity to detect and prevent any manipulation of results by the IEBC.”
Junet claimed that around the time, Muhoho Kenyatta operated from an office in Westlands that was so restricted that even Raila Odinga, the party’s presidential candidate, could not access it freely.
“It is from this office — out of bounds for nearly all of us — that they claimed to handle the agents’ payments and other logistics. These are facts, not conjecture. I challenge Uhuru Kenyatta and Muhoho Kenyatta to publicly deny these facts,” he said.
After the general election, the Azimio La Umoja Coalition dismissed allegations that some members of the secretariat squandered money budgeted for agents in the August 2022 elections.
This followed claims that top officials at the secretariat misused the funds, forcing some polling stations to miss out on agents.
Azimio spokesperson Prof Makau Mutua, in a statement at the time, defended Junet, who was on the receiving end of criticism.
Raila’s chief agent in the August 9 elections, Saitabao Kanchory, claimed that ODM only listened to one person — Suna East MP Junet Mohamed.
“We could not have lost this election if it weren’t for three people. The first one is Junet Mohamed, the second is Joe Mucheru, and the third is Makau Mutua. These are people I have worked with and respect, but in terms of responsibility, they take the highest responsibility,” he said on NTV.
According to Kanchory, Junet ran a one-man show, and the former Prime Minister sided with everything he said, even when it was clearly wrong.
“The only person Baba would listen to without question was Junet. Even if you had the truth and you told Baba, and Junet came with darkness, Baba would side with Junet,” he said.
“Junet Mohamed is one man who purported to know everything. He nullified everything everyone said and made sure he kept people who could have helped Baba (Raila) at arm’s length. He ensured nobody came close to Baba who would have helped him.”
