The Supreme Court of Kenya has dismissed the election petition to overturn the country’s August presidential election, validating the poll victory of Kwanza Kenya’s William Ruto.
The judges were not persuaded by virtually all of the grounds cited by Odinga’s team for the nullification of Ruto’s election.
Chief Justice Martha Koome who read the lead judgement said some of the evidence presented to support many of the grounds appeared “forged” while some of the affidavits were based on “hearsay.”
On the technology deployed which Odinga’s team said aided the rigging, she said: “We are not persuaded that the standards of IEBC’s technology failed the test. Whereas it is true that kiems kit failed in 235 polling stations, 86889 voters were granted the right to vote manually and the requisite forms 32A were successfully filled. While the audit report was released to public 7 days before election, the voter register was used without any apparent anomalies,” Koome said.
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It is only one ground where the Supreme Court, to some extent, agreed with Odinga, regarding the power of commission in tallying and verifying results.
Odinga had argued in the petition that IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati usurped the powers and excluded other commission members when he announced and declared the results differing from the choice of the people in Kenya.
Koome agreed that the power to verify and declare results rests not in the chairperson but in the commission but noted that the four dissenting commissioners had “participated in the verification of the results.”
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“Are to nullify an election on the basis of a last-minute board rupture?” she queried.
She said reports of vote stuffing or voter suppression could not be proved beyond reasonable ground.
Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the petition and thus upheld the election of Ruto.
The ruling ended weeks of anxiety that had engulfed Kenya following the August 9 closely contested election.
Thousands of Ruto’s supporters took to the streets in different parts of the country after the ruling.
The decision clears the way for Ruto to take the oath of office as Kenya’s fifth president.
The ceremony could take place as early as September 12, 2022.
For Odinga, the ruling could spell the end of an active political career that has spanned four decades.
At least 14 million Kenyans cast ballots, and Ruto received about 50.49 percent (7.18 million) of them. This result appears to have put an end to the Kenyatta-Odinga families’ ascent in the East African powerhouse since 1964.
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