By As three petitions against Uhuru Kenyatta’s second presidential win are said to be lying on the Supreme Court Judges’ registry, this leaves uncertainty in Mr. Kenyatta’s fate of having a second term leading and being the President of the Republic of Kenya.
The petitions are set to will be heard and determined by the seven judge bench on Tuesday 14.
The petitions challenging the 26 October repeat presidential polls sight several issues that which the petitioners have laid to convince the judges nullify Uhuru Kenyatta’s win, though there are little similarities with the previous petition against the August 8 election that saw to the annulment of the polls.
The current petitions are filed by former Kilome MP Harun Mwau, Lawyer Njonjo Mue and Khelef Khalifa of Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu civil society group.
In their petitions, the three raised at least five issues as reasons that the Supreme Court should for the second time annul Uhuru victory.
Former Kilome MP Harun Mwau’s main argument is that President Uhuru Kenyatta was not legally and validly elected given that he was not properly nominated in accordance with the Constitution to contest in the fresh repeat poll.
On the other hand, human rights activists Njonjo Mue and Khelef Khalifa argue that the election was poorly done and mismanaged, and cannot by any standard be deemed to have been a proper and valid poll conducted in strict conformity with the Constitution and applicable laws.
‘At the time of going for the election, IEBC knew that they had completely violated the Constitution and were bent on doing an illegal exercise, but didn’t take a step back. They slept on their job, only to wake up when it was too late to conduct the election in accordance with the Constitution as had been ordered by the Supreme Court,’ argued Mr. Mwau.
After the Supreme Court annulled Uhuru Kenyatta August 8 presidential polls’ win, it sought for a free, fair and credible repeat polls, that unfortunately the IEBC still did not commend.
Another issue tabled, is the withdrawal of Raila Odinga and Kalonzo from the repeat poll race. According to the petitioners, the two candidates’ withdrawal from the race had to have the IEBC calling off the exercise, which they didn’t.
‘IEBC failed to acknowledge the legal effects of the candidates’ withdrawal. The fresh poll was already dead based on the withdrawal and the commission could not revive it considering what is provided in the constitution,’ stressed the petitioners.
The Supreme Court had ruled that only Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta would be on the ballot paper. Therefore, if one of the two withdrew from the race, what was the point of going ahead with the polls – added the activists.
The members also question the validity of the October 26 polls and the results, following the fact that the IEBC completely failed to conduct the exercise in 27 constituencies, yet the constitution states that the election must be conducted in each of the 290 constituencies in Kenya.
The three petitioners also included the infighting between the IEBC officials, Wafula Chebukati and Ezra Chiloba plus the resignation of Roselyne Akombe, who was an IEBC commissioner that later fled to the States for fear that her life was in danger.
Wafula Chebukati, the IEBC chairperson’s statement about the uncertainty of IEBC guaranteeing a credible election, and just to have the exercise conducted weeks after, was also included in the petition.
One of the similarities in the August 8 petition (filed by Raila Odinga and team), and the October 26 petition, the current one, is the question of irregularities and illegalities in the issuing of the presidential results.
‘The audit by KPMG on the voter register showed only 5,000 voters were registered without biometric records. In the fresh election, IEBC claimed there were 1.6 million voters identified without biometrics. This is a huge anomaly which points to existence of fraud,’ the petitioners say.
Including other issues, the petitioners believe that these are more than enough facts for the Supreme Court to nullify the October 26 elections, and order for a fresh one within 90 days.
The annulment of the August polls remains historic since it was the first one in Africa. At this point, the World waits to see if Kenya will make two of the kinds in the same year.
Reporter: Shamilah Namuddu