The
attention of Kenyans and indeed, the whole world, is now turned on five men and
one woman after Cord presidential candidate Raila Odinga filed a petition at the Supreme Court challenging
the declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner of the March 4 election. Mr.
Odinga says he wants the highest court on the land to set aside the
presidential election results announced by the electoral commission on March 9
claiming the election was marred by massive irregularities, malpractices and
contravention of the Constitution.
With
Saturday’s historic development in the first election after the 2010
Constitution, eyes turn to the court headed by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. Other
judges of the court include Mr. Philip Tunoi, Ms. Njoki Ndung’u, Prof Jackton
Bouma Ojwang, Dr Smokin Wanjala and Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim. The appointment of
Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal is yet to be approved by Parliament and so
she won’t be hearing the petition.
Mr.
Odinga wants the court to nullify IEBC’s declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as
president-elect and William Ruto as deputy president-elect. He also seeks to
persuade the court that the whole electoral process leading to that declaration
was null and void and a fresh poll should be held. Mr. Odinga has assembled a
team of top lawyers led by Senior Counsel George Oraro who said they are
confident and ready to prove before the Supreme Court that the elections were
rigged in favor of Mr. Kenyatta.
“We
are confident the case outcome will be in favour of our client (Mr. Odinga).
Our case is watertight with sufficient evidence to prove the elections were not
free and fair,” said Mr. Oraro. According to Mr. Odinga, there were no free and
fair elections and no government can lawfully be formed from the declaration of
Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Ruto as President-elect and Deputy President-elect
respectively. “The electoral commission failed to establish systems which are
accurate, verifiable and transparent and declared results which in many
instances had no relation to votes cast at polling stations. They developed opaque
methods intended to manipulate results and excluded my representatives from the
process,” swore Mr. Odinga.
He
argues that anomalies were observed in the process from voter registration,
transmission of results, to tallying and accused IEBC of declaring results on
the basis of unsigned Form 36, multiplying Form 36 in some constituencies and
altering entry files. Mr. Odinga swore that votes cast exceeded the number of
registered voters in Tiaty, Laisamis, Igembe Central, Buri, Chuka,
IburiIgambaNgombe, Lari, Kapenguria, Saboti, Turbo, Marakwet West, Kajiado
West, Bomet East, Mt Elgon, Langata and Aldai constituencies. He said that the
final tally in Webuye East, Webuye West and Igembe constituencies differed from
those announced at the centre. In Kikuyu, Juja, Chuka, Thika, Kiambaa, Limuru,
Nakuru, Igembe South, Lagdera, North Imenti, Central Imenti, Bomet East and
Sigor constituencies, Mr. Odinga claims there were more than two forms
reflecting the final presidential results. “In the final tally, the total
number of votes cast in the presidential elections differed from those for
gubernatorial and parliamentary elections which took place on the same date,
clearly attesting to my belief that massive electoral fraud and malpractice
occurred in contravention of the Constitution,” said Mr. Odinga.
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