Senator James Orengo holds up a binder/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 26 – On Friday the National Super Alliance unveiled what it said were the authentic results of the August 8 presidential election.
In a meeting attended by co-leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi, the Amani National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Geoffrey Osotsi announced that Odinga garnered 8,104,744 votes representing 50.24 per cent against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 7,908,215 votes, representing 48.92 per cent of votes cast.
Speaking at the meeting, Siaya Senator James Orengo defended the results as “authentic, undiluted and unadulterated” saying Odinga won in 26 counties, the prisons and Diaspora.
“This is it. This is what the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has deined the people of Kenya ever since the elections were held on August 8,” Orengo said during the event held at a Nairobi hotel.
While commenting on the same, Mudavadi, the ANC leader said the “information given was too loaded,” adding “it needs time for distillation.”
Odinga and Kalonzo made no comment at the meeting.
NASA chief executive Norman Magaya had indicated before the meeting got underway that the coalition will be using the results as the basis for the swearing in of Odinga and Musyoka as President and Deputy President next week Tuesday.
NASA successfully challenged the outcome of the August 8 presidential election at the Supreme Court after filing a petition which resulted in the nullification of Kenyatta’s win and an order for a fresh election.
In the nullified election, IEBC had declared President Kenyatta winner after securing 8,203,290 votes (54.27 per cent) against Odinga’s 6,762,224 votes.
According to IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati, the voter turnout stood at 15,073,662 voters out of the 19,611,423 registered, marking a 78.91 per cent turnout.
In the October 26 election held in accordance with the Supreme Court order for a fresh election, President Kenyatta was declared the winner after getting 98.26 per cent of 7,483,895 valid votes cast.
Odinga who had announced a poll boycott on October 10 only managed 73,228 votes.
IEBC went ahead to declare Kenyatta the victor after it became impossible to hold the presidential election in a section of Nyanza region, Odinga’s political bedrock after NASA suppers turned hostile to officials of the poll agency.
“The Commission could not immediately determine an appropriate and practical time in compliance with Section 55(b) of the Election Act which requires that when an election is postponed it should be held at the earliest practicable time,” Consolata Nkatha, IEBC Vice Chairperson stated on October 30 as Chebukati released the poll results.
“Having completed the verification process with respect to 266 constituencies where the election was held, the Commission in accordance with Section 55(b)(3) of the Elections Act has directed a return of the elections be made having been satisfied that the results of the election shall not be affected by areas where voting was postponed,” she explained.
Following the October 30 declaration, two petitions filed at the Supreme Court – one by activists Njonjo Mue and Khelef Khalifa, and another by former Kilome MP Harun Mwau – were dismissed for lack of merit.
Chief Justice David Maraga, Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu, Lady Justice Njoki Ndung’u, Justices Jackton Ojwang’, Smokin Wanjala and Isaac Lenaola were unanimous that the grounds raised in the petition did not warrant another cancellation of the poll.
“The nominations that took place on May 28 and 29 remained valid and no other nominations were required for the October 26 election,” Justice Lenaola said as he read the ruling in part.
“We affirm therefore that all the candidates in the August 8 election were validly nominated and it was proper for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to have included them on the ballot paper as presidential candidates,” Justice Lenaola read out dismissing the argument that there was a need for fresh nominations before the October 26 election.
It was the position of the court that the October 26 presidential election resulted in a legitimate winner who acquired the requisite 50 per cent plus one of the valid votes cast nationwide and 25 per cent in half of the 47 counties.
“The ultimate yardstick of determining a winner in the presidential election as provided by Article 138(4) was in our consideration mate and hence the election was free and fair,” Chief Justice Maraga pronounced.
He also pointed out that the low voter turnout witnessed in the election was not sufficient to invalidate the poll saying the turnout was affected by voter fatigue and the ensuing political environment as demonstrated in court during the hearing of the petitions.
“An election cannot be tainted solely on grounds of voter turnout. This is because as we have found voter fatigue and the general voter apathy that attends to repeat elections or by-elections,” he noted.
NASA has however remained adamant, since the swearing-in of President Kenyatta on November 28, that it will not acknowledge his authority; casting aspersions on his legitimacy to rule.
About The Author
