Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has dismissed reports that the late Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), General Francis Ogolla, was among people said to have attempted to overturn President William Ruto’s victory in the August 2022 polls.
In 2023, during a joint media interview at State House in Nairobi, Ruto claimed that General Ogolla attempted to overturn his presidential victory and nonetheless appointed him as CDF.
But during General Ogolla’s burial ceremony at Obama K’Ogello Primary School in Ngi’ya, Siaya County on Sunday, Duale endorsed former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s comments on Saturday that Ogolla was a man of integrity who would not try to influence the election results.
The Defence minister narrated how Ogolla was unwillingly sent to the national tallying centre on August 15, 2022, at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi by unnamed people.
“General Ogolla was very close to me, particularly when he was the Vice Chief of Defence Forces. When the whole Bomas issue of August 18 was hanging over his head, he called me and the family can agree with me, we had a conducive discussion; that he had even lost weight, that this thing was disturbing him,” Duale said.
He said General Ogolla at the time wondered why he needed to be at Bomas as he was not a member of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC).
“General Ogolla went to NSAC and Bomas, he shared text messages with me… one read “Go and represent me at NSAC because of prior commitments… When he went to NSAC, the directions General Ogolla was given with other colleagues was to go to Bomas, and as a reputable soldier, the General asked and sent a text message to his bosses and asked, what am I going to do in Bomas and this has happened?”
According to Duale, Ogolla was told “It has been decided that you go.”
Duale said the then-Vice Chief of Defence Forces was kept waiting for five hours until it emerged that presidential election results were ready to be announced at 3 pm. Despite Ogolla’s insistence that he saw no need to be there, Duale said, he was told to remain at the national tallying centre.
“I had a discussion with him from 7 pm to 9:30 pm in my house. His security and driver can confirm. When he convinced me is when he got an opportunity to relay and talk to the president those three messages at the end of the discussion,” Duale said.
“Raila Odinga was very right and I came today to qualify his statement, that General Ogolla, a man he knows, would not have gone to Bomas. Some of the people who sent him there are here. Let us not create a false narrative about General Ogolla.”
Odinga on Saturday said he personally knew Ogolla as an upright person and dismissed rumours surrounding his alleged involvement in overturning Ruto’s win.
“As we lay Ogolla to rest, I want us to remove the stigma, Your Excellency, because I knew this man very well. General Ogolla would never have contemplated or thought about going to Bomas of Kenya to force Mr Chebukati to alter the results of the last General Elections. So we want this to be removed as we lay him to rest,” Odinga told a military honours ceremony commemorating Ogolla.
In the 2023 State House interview, Ruto said he elevated General Ogolla to the position due to his qualifications even though some of his advisors were against it.
“General Ogolla is among the people who went to Bomas to try and overturn my victory, but because when I looked at his CV, he was the best person to be General. Many things that are part of my system overweighed what he had done,” Ruto said then.
Ogolla was killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday in Sindar, Elgeyo Marakwet County, alongside nine other military personnel.
The Kenya Defence Forces boss was buried on Sunday at his home in Ng’iya village, Siaya County per his wishes to be interred within 72 hours of his death.
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