Royal Media Services (RMS) Chairperson Samuel Kamau (SK) Macharia on Saturday, March 13, 2025, has shared fine details of how Raila Odinga has continuously lost in presidential polls since 2007, calling for reforms in the electoral process to ensure transparency and fairness in future elections.
Speaking during the burial of veteran pilot James Gitahi in Machakos on Saturday, March 15, 2025, the shrewd businessman and media mogul who openly admitted that he has a long-standing friendship with the former prime minister, intimated that Raila had fairly won the 2007 elections with 1.8 million votes.
He did, however, reveal how, despite Raila winning fairly, he was forced to alter the results in favour of Mwai Kibaki, who was declared the winner of the historic elections, resulting in extensive violence that killed 1,300 people and displaced thousands of Kenyans.
“In 2007 Kibaki was declared winner, but we had complete data that it is Raila who had won he elections. We had agreed with Gitahi that whoever dies first will reveal this information that is why I am doing it.
“Our data showed Raila had won with 1.8 million votes and I was picked from my house at night and all returning officers from the Mt Kenya region were held and their return forms taken. I was taken to my office, I found some people whom I will not mention and we changed all this figures, and Kibaki won the election,” he recounted.
Subsequent losses
Macharia, who shied away from speaking on the 2013 elections, continued his revelation that Raila lost in the 2017 polls because the voter register was tampered with prior to the election.
In particular, he shared that he received intelligence that the voter register was carefully manipulated to include dead people as voters.
“In the election of 2017, we learnt that the register had been changed for voters. When a voter registered, you had your fingerprint, photograph, and full name. They had taken some names from the death register but had no photographs. That is how Raila was beaten,” he said.
A similar fate occurred in 2022, although Macharia claims that Raila’s refusal to listen cost him the election. He describes how he alerted Raila of an impending election theft after the voter register was tampered with, but the ODM leader dismissed his fears.
“In 2022, we went to Naivasha to plan for the election of Raila as a candidate. I tried to explain that the register that was going to be used was fake, but Raila was so impatient he stopped me from explaining but this four commissioners that were fired came to my house and I showed them how the registers were fake.
“I tried to convince Raila that the voter register going to be used was not proper and they should give it to us even if they are going to be agents, he didn’t think so, and because of the handshake with Uhuru he thought it was a free throw,” he added, opining that he had received enough information disclosing that the 2022 elections were carefully curated to favor President William Ruto.
The Royal Media Services chair went on to state that Raila heavily relied on his support from Kenyatta as immunity for his votes, a move that heavily costed him the top seat.
“They were saying they have the deep state. But Ruto would tell them, Which deep state do you have? Because Ruto knew exactly how the extra votes would put.”
