The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kenyatta was declared winner by the IEBC after he garnered 8,203,209 votes (54.27%) against Raila Odinga’s 6,762,224 (44.74%).
Kenyatta immediately extended a hand of friendship to Odinga saying, “We all belong to Kenya and we shall work and partner together so we build Kenya.”
However, hours after the closure of voting, Odinga called a press conference saying the IEBC had been hacked and the presidential results compromised. He urged Kenyans to reject the results.
Odinga’s lawyers went to the Supreme Court and asked the Court to invalidate Kenyatta’s victory saying a scrutiny of the forms used to tally the votes had anomalies that affected nearly five million votes. On Sept. 1, the Supreme Court declared the Aug.8 election invalid.
In a 4-2 decision, the Supreme Court determined that the recently concluded presidential election was not conducted in accordance with the Constitution and to that effect, it was invalid.
Kenyatta at first said he respected the ruling much as he personally disagreed with it, adding that he and his Jubilee Coalition were ready to go back again to the people with the same agenda. But days later, at a rally in Nakuru, he attacked the Supreme Court judges calling them “crooks.”
Kenyatta criticised the six members of the Supreme Court for going “against the will of the people by nullifying the vote.” Kenyatta also told his supporters that his status as president-elect had been taken away by “Maraga and his crooks.”
Odinga meanwhile said the ruling had set a precedent for the African continent and he thanked the judges for acting “for posterity.”
Odinga supporters, mainly from western Kenya and the coastal region erupted into jubilation after the decision was announced calling the judgment an unprecedented ruling. This was the fourth time Odinga had contested the presidential election and for all the times, he had lost. Every time, he has claimed the votes were marred by rigging.
With Kenya having a history of disputed elections since the country reverted to multi-partism in 1992, Odinga called the Supreme Court ruling a triumph for the people of Kenya.
Towards the end of 2007 after Odinga was declared loser, Kenya plunged into weeks of ethnic bloodletting in which more than 1,200 people were killed. In 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed his petition.
Whatever the arguments on either side, Kenyans will inevitably head back to the polls. It is an expensive exercise in terms of money and time. And its outcome remains unclear as the country hangs on a knife’s edge. While many are celebrating the annulment of the election as a decisive declaration of Kenya’s democratic maturity, many others are asking if it is worth the uncertainty and apprehension about the nation’s future.
