In Kenya, the country’s Supreme Court Chief Justice, David Maraga, is in the limelight again. The apex court has begun hearing two petitions that could cause the annulling of last month’s re-run presidential election.
The court hearing is the latest in a long and winding legal drama that has surrounded Kenya’s election process since the first election on August 8 election was annulled by the Supreme Court due to “irregularities and illegalities”.
Two petitions were filed to overturn the result of the re-run ordered by the court on October 26 that was won by President Uhuru Kenyatta with 98 percent of the vote, amid a boycott by his rival Raila Odinga.
The court consolidated the two petitions, one filed by former lawmaker and businessman John Harun Mwau and another filed by International commission of Jurists (ICJ) Njonjo Mue and director of Muslims for Human Rights Khelef Khalifa.
Lawyers for Mwau argued that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should have conducted fresh nominations ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, Julie Soweto, representing Mue and Khalifa, argued that violence and intimidation and lack of independence of the IEBC — whose own chairman claimed he could not guarantee a free and fair election — meant the poll was not in line with the constitution. “As a country we stand at the edge of a cauldron of uncertainty. This court must ask itself if such an election conforms to the spirit and intent of the constitution,” she asserted, referring to Kenyatta’s 98 percent victory.
A third petition which sought to declare Odinga and other leaders of his National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition guilty of electoral offences for boycotting the poll, and inciting their supporters for violence, was delayed due to the strict timeline for the petitions to be heard.
The six judges, led by Chief Justice David Maraga, have until Monday November 20 to deliver a ruling.
