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2017 KENYA ELECTIONS

Raila targets Chebukati and team after Supreme Court victory

“We’ve got not faith in the electoral commission as currently constituted. They have committed criminal acts; most of them actually belong to the jail and therefore we shall ask for prosecution,” the NASA leader said on Friday/MOSES MUOKI

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 1 – National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga has said they will pursue prosecution of electoral commission officials, following the annulment of the August 8 presidential election by the Supreme Court.

Odinga, who spoke after the verdict on a petition he jointly filed with his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka, said he had no faith in the Commission as currently constituted and that they could not trust the poll agency with the mandate to hold fresh presidential elections within 60 days as directed by the court.

“We’ve got not faith in the electoral commission as currently constituted. They have committed criminal acts; most of them actually belong to the jail and therefore we shall ask for prosecution,” the NASA leader said on Friday.

Odinga told a battery of domestic and international journalist gathered outside the court that the alliance will soldier on with its quest to take the leadership of the country; a quest he said had been stalled through what he had termed in his petition as a “fatally compromised” poll.

“Our journey to Canaan was unstoppable. On August 8 we crossed River Jordan to reach the city of Jericho. We’re matching forward to the city of Jerusalem and we shall get there,” he remarked.

Similar sentiments were echoed by his co-petitioner Musyoka who described the ruling as historic while lauding the court for its openness in the manner in which it held the hearings.

“We will have to look deeply into the conduct of the electoral commission. We do not have faith that they are capable of conducting a free and fair election,” the former Vice President said.

“It is a very historic day not just for Kenya but the continent. I feel that the dignity and integrity of this court has been re-established. The fact that Chief Justice David Maraga gave his colleagues an opportunity to read their dissenting judgment is commendable,” he added.

In its ruling, the four out of six judges held that the presidential election “was not conducted in accordance with the constitution and the applicable law rendering the declared results invalid, null and void.”

CJ Maraga further proceeded to declare that the third respondent – President Uhuru Kenyatta – was not validly declared as President-elect terming the declaration by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as invalid, null and void.

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“An order is hereby issued directing the first respondent (IEBC) to organize and conduct a fresh election in strict conformity with the constitution and the applicable election laws within 60 days of the determination under Article 143 of the Constitution,” Maraga directed.

Justices Njoki Ndung’u and Jackton Ojwang’ dissented with the majority judgment saying the election was hailed by regional observers as largely free, fair, credible and peaceful.

The two also stated that the petitioners had not proved any compelling reason that the election was indeed compromised.

Other than Maraga, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, and Justices Smokin Wanjala and Isaac Lenaola informed the majority ruling.

Justice Mohamed Ibrahim who was taken ill on Tuesday could not participate in the process that led to the drafting of the final ruling. Maraga however assured that he was recuperating.

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