NAIROBI, Kenya. Sept, 5 – United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary General Veronica Maina has hailed the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of Kenya to uphold the declaration of William Ruto as President-elect.
The verdict was issued by Chief Justice Martha Koome on behalf of the 7-Judge bench.
“First of all is to really thank God for the victory we have received today, as the president-elect said before, he has been prayed into victory, Kenya Kwanza has been prayed into victory,” said Maina.
“We want to thank God also for the Supreme Court justices and the CJ for the unanimous decision, it makes it easier for the Kenyans to move on and we want to say to all Kenyans that Kenya Kwanza government will not be just for Kenya Kwanza supporters, it is a government for all the Kenyans,”
Maine urged Kenyans to embrace peace saying that the incoming government will work for every Kenyan regardless of their political affiliations.
“Do not feel left out as a Kenyan, our doors are open, you belong here, we pray there will be peace from now going forward, and do not feel as though you are not part of the incoming government, we love you we want you in and we want to work together with everybody,” she said.
She also hailed the court proceedings, the judges, and the lawyers for conducing themselves with decorum through the period.
“We thank the Judiciary, led by the CJ for the great work they have done, they have done these proceedings in a very excellent, ethical, and professional manner the lawyers have conducted themselves very well,”
Kenya’s democratic space is said to have been improved for the better as Kenyans have been urged to support institutions tasked with executing various roles in the spirit of nation-building.
Senior Counsel Fred Ngatia representing Ruto also thanked the Apex court for its decision saying tit was time for the country to get back to work.
“It has been a very engaging period and we are thankful it has now ended, the time for court cases has ended the time to assemble a new team has now started, we now move forward as one country and one people,”
CJ Koome Verdict
The court in dismissing several petitions among them by Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga also called out some advocates for presenting fraudulent evidence.
The chief justice said there was no evidence that election forms in the online results portal were changed from the original printed forms.
Justice Koome, in a stinging criticism of some of those who presented affidavits, warned lawyers against presenting misleading or fabricated evidence.
In one case she said that the evidence proved to be “hot air” and sent the court on “a wild goose chase”.
The court also found that there was no evidence that anyone accessed the results transmission system to tamper with the results. She says the commission sufficiently explained how the system captured the results forms.
The Chief Justice added that the argument that the integrity of the public portal was compromised was disproved.
The judges were not persuaded by the allegation that the technology failed the test of integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency, the chief justice said.
The Supreme Court was also satisfied that the electoral commission had the power to postpone the elections in parts of the country among them Kakamega and Mombasa Counties.
The court also said that there was no single document produced by Odinga’s team that there was ballot stuffing.
“Are we to nullify an election on the basis of a last-minute rapture the details of which remain scanty? In the absence of any evidence of a violation of the constitution and electoral laws, can we overturn the election? This we cannot do! The current dysfunctionality at the commission did not affect the conduct of the 2022 election,” CJ Koome said.
The Supreme Court found that the power to verify and tally presidential election results vests not in the chairperson but in the commission.
In line with earlier court decisions – the chairperson cannot arrogate to himself the power to verify and tally the results to the exclusion of others.
The Supreme Court further found that petitioners did not provide a watertight case for the nullification of results on the basis that the 50 percent-plus-one constitutional threshold for an outright win was not met.
It said that President-elect Ruto did get more than 50 percent plus one votes.
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