Thursday, March 28, 2024

Kenya Supreme Court Nullifies Presidential Election

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Raila Odinga, the National Super Alliance coalition leader, told a press conference that projections from his own team showed he was ‘far ahead’. Photograph: Jerome Delay/AP
Raila Odinga, the National Super Alliance coalition leader, told a press conference that projections from his own team showed he was ‘far ahead’. Photograph: Jerome Delay/AP

Kenya’s supreme court has declared Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in presidential elections last month invalid and ordered a new poll within 60 days.

The six-judge bench ruled 4-2 in favour of a petition filed by Odinga, who claimed the electronic voting results were hacked into and manipulated in favour of the incumbent. Kenyatta had won a second term with 54% of the vote.

“The declaration is invalid, null and void,” said Judge David Maranga. “The first respondent failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution.”

The hearing followed a petition filed by Odinga in the aftermath of his defeat last month.

Opposition officials repeatedly described the election results as a “fraud” and claimed that Odinga, who leads the National Super Alliance (NASA), was the “legitimate” winner.

Odinga was jubilant as he welcomed what he called a “precedent-setting ruling” by the court

“For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying the election of a president,” he said. “This indeed is a very historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension the people of the continent of Africa.”

A lawyer for President Kenyatta said the decision had been “very political” but had to be respected.

97 COMMENTS

    • This should have happend in Zambia but unfortunately we have a jelly lady as chief justice. It was clear to everyone that a lot of thing did not make sense on how a person a can without validation of all results. Further, dodged the court process and arrest an innocent person. We need a better generation of Zambians.

    • Maybe lets bring Kenyan judges to hear our elections. We have to many useless and comrpromised judges in Zambia even the speaker we should have a Kenyan speaker instead.

    • Zambian judicial system is corrupt and rotten. We needed this kind of bravery in Zambia also. After all judges are protected on whatever outcome. No candidate can harass them if results where nullified as they all remain powerless.

    • Let them not lie to us that they are election observers when, in actuality, they are election oppressors. They come all the way from Europe and America to give us the impression they are here to observe elections, when they actually don’t.

    • Those handpicked stooges in our High Court can never dare attempt to listen to even the incumbent’s candidature for 2021.

    • Have you seen the petition was heard in less than a WEEK!!!!! after the results were announced. Something to be learnt here by HH and his lumpen lawyers.

    • The judgement was TRASH. Why? Because the irregularities the court relied on could not have affected the final outcome. How could irregularities in transmission affected the final results. The transmission could have been hacked but the hard copies still showed UHURU to have won the elections.

    • The concourt failed the country. It’s the duty of judges to offer guidance to the lawyers so that the case moves smoothly within the stipulated time. That’s what Kenyan judges did from the word go. If lawyers start waffling it’s their duty as judges to censure them. Our concourt judges offered no such direction as both parties continued to raise preliminary issues. Like in football referees caution players who employee delaying tactics as a strategy to stall the game towards full time. Infact on several occasions the judges contradicted and misdirected themselves to the detriment of the petition. As a result to this day there is no jugdement passed. Ridiculous indeed. Whether their conduct was delibarate or simply a matter of incompetence is up for speculative debate. The Kenyan…

    • SOMEONE SPENT 14 DAYS WITH PRELIMINARY ISSUES. NO EVIDENCE. BUT IN KENYA THEY QUICKLY PROVIDED THE EVIDENCE AND A DECISION WAS MADE ON 7 DAYS.

    • @ 1.12 tatwe

      Kenya’s Opposition learnt from Zambia – to make it airtight and leave no room for error. They saw it coming and got prepared for it.

    • Most PF dunderheads here think its the UPND who were bringing in preliminaries after the other. The truth is the PF team was behind the scheme of preliminaries. Each time the court hearing was on , a PF lawyer would request for another lawyer to be joined and then would request for adjournment. The PF hand picked concourt judges would then grant PF lawyers an adjournment against the wish of the UPND lawyers.

      Even after the petition was thrown out UPND took the matter to High court demanding for their right to be heard PF lawyers keep on asking for adjournments to avoid UPND witnesses presenting the evidence. Last time I checked, PF decided to cause deliberate confusion so that the matter could be heard in closed chambers because they did not want the media and ordinary people to…

    • Last time I checked, PF decided to cause deliberate confusion so that the matter could be heard in closed chambers because they did not want the media and ordinary people to know the UPND ‘s overwhelming evidence.

      When PF could no longer rely on adjournments, they hatched a plan to arrest HH on treason to divert attention from the court case.

      The UPND court case must be heard and concluded otherwise I wont be very happy with both PF and UPND for conniving to ignore atrocities committed by PF against innocent Zambians who were expressing their freedoms.

      Kenyan elections were hacked, but Zambian elections were rigged in broad day light with the help the guy they caught at ECZ with a laptop and then Lungu released him.
      If we had a credible judicial system in place HH would be in…

    • Kenyan elections were hacked, but Zambian elections were rigged in broad day light with the help the guy they caught at ECZ with a laptop and then Lungu released him.
      If we had a credible judicial system in place HH would be in the driving seat now taking Zambia to the promised land.

    • One thing about Kenyan opposition is they are smart not like sleepy opposition in Zambia namely UPND…the Kenyans were busy changing the constitution to make it fair before elections.

    • This is how a supreme court should act when neccessary, not the one you have there that corruption, bigotry and tribalism has infiltrated.
      Zambia is a joke

    • The difference is that your HH lawyers were waffling for 14 days due to lack of evidence but see here within one week of results the petition has been done with.

    • HH tried abut in Zambia we don’t have an independent judiciary !! As soon as the court case drew close JJ was arrested – why because the PF CLOWNS don’t want the truth to come out !

    • POMPOS NO THE GOVERNMENT SUDDENLY DECIDED TO INCLUDE WEEKENDS IN THE 14 DAYS – WHY BECAUSE THEY KNEW THE TRUTH WOULD COME OUT. NO WHERE IN THE WORLD DO YOU INLCUDE WEEKENDS IN 14 WORKING DAYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • @2.5
      It says within 14 days and that does not mean everyday of 14 days, neither does it say 14 working days. If you look at a number of acts in Zambia they would clearly state that “excluding weekends or holidays” after stating the period.

    • @Crystal Clear,,,
      I have had legal minds whose first language is English review that constitutional clause. The 14 days window is simply a time to file the petition and not for the case to be concluded. You have 14 days to organize yourselves and take the case to court. The court then decides how to proceed from there.

      The problem in Zambia is that WE believe we understand English. But what we speak, without exception, is an adulterated language which is only tolerated by those whose first language is English. We recognize the words but we don’t understand what they mean when they are combined in a certain pattern. By the way, Americans are not in the category. They too have their own language. It comes up as an option when setting up any communication device.

  1. We need an independent ruling on the petition we can’t just move on something has to be done…we need to know the truth….PF did not win the elections…there is no short cut in life.

    • Odinga presented hard core proof,facts and evidence. HH was busy raising preliminary issues and arguing about who should be acting president during the petition.He thought he had the whole month to raise preliminaries then another month to present his evidence,kikikiki.For your information,the decision of the concourt is final. where do you want the petition to be heard? at the basketball court?

    • The Kenyan Supreme Court showed how petitions should be dealt with. Why take 14 days when it can be done in one week? The Zambian Kangaroo Court judges are a disgrace.

  2. The power of Strong Institutions of governance! That is what will redeem Africa! Alas and woe to those who trust in strongmen! Their days are numbered! Africa, we can redeem ourselves. A big shame to international observers who declared the electoral illegalities and irregularities as “free and fair.” Woe to you! Elections MUST always be a reflection of the will of the people not of a few self-selected men and I add here women! Bravo the Kenyan Supreme Court! We need men and women like you in Africa, who have balls (and breasts) of Steel!

  3. Strong institutions and not strong men will move Africa forward.

    In Zed due to a compromised judiciary we are in limbo with the petition still unheard.

    Who really is the legitimate winner of the August 16 elections. I guess Zambia will never know, thanks to 30 peices of silver.

  4. Zambia enjoyed the status as the pioneer of democracy in Africa until the drunkard arrived on the scene and turned the country into a pariah state faster than mugabe did for Zimbabwe. Zambia is now a laughing stock because of the punk!

    • What is your point?The drunkard – ECL is recognised worldwide as the president of zambia!!HH is also known worldwide as the leader of the opposition in zambia!!

  5. In Zambia its clear that someone rigged in Dundumwezi big tyme. And in Lusaka and Eastern to just have a decent lose. What a shame. PF should immediately start investigating Dundumwezi elections because those results were fake by any standards. Someone really rigged there in the name of hechihechi big time. Ask any Zambian there was a big smell of rubbis.h in Dundumwezi. PF wake up and start the games. Why keep quiet you have the power and political will. Dont just say the good things you want to do to Dundumwezi – hit them hard also. Take the ball to their fil.thy side.
    I end here!

    • Countries do learn from each other. Zambia is learning, and so is Africa. It may soon be possible for Zambia’s Supreme Court to act likewise – overturn an election result. This is a landmark case, not just for Kenya, but indeed for the whole of Africa, if not the world, including the United States of America. Was it not America’s Supreme Court that endorsed that fateful election in which Al Gore was the clear winner? Were Al Gore to have been the president, America would not have gone to war against Iraq. What a different world we would have been living in today? How proud today are those United States Supreme Court Justices for overturning the will of the people? Let the Kenyans go to the polls in 60 days, and let Kenyatta be a Kenyan again.

  6. Indeed, this is unprecedented and a hallmark of true independence of the courts in Kenya. Africa must wake up and redeem herself from misfits masquerading as leaders, while true leaders who are the people’s choice are left on the sidelines due to corruption and undemocratic tendencies. If we have an aorta of truth in ourselves as Zambians and our institutions, we must not only emulate but replicate what the Kenyans have done to set the record straight. Yesterday, that disgraceful woman from the ECZ decided not to renew new contract after she presided over a shambolic and sham of an election that has brought divisions in this country never seen before. Like Bob Marley once sung, you can fool some people but you cannot full all the people all the time.

  7. There are no parallels between the Kenyan and Zambian situations. In Kenya the petitioners brought out facts quickly – in Zambia the petitioners brought preliminaries quickly. Kenyatta will still win.

    • you re alive to the fact that the con court’s performance ws below accepted levels why ddnt they pass a rulling on whether edgar lungu was supposed to hand over power to the speaker

    • you couldn’t have said it any better @abilima!!@Isaac Sakala,indeed we need a complete overhaul of the concourt judges,but upnd lawyers were busy wasting time with preliminaries instead of bringing out evidence!!!

    • The preliminaries were cardinal my friend. How do you go for the main case when the petitioned is holding on to power against dictates of the supreme law of the land. The concourts judges were and are just incompetent characters together with the guy that appointed them period. We could have done better in this matter if ECL was his own man, but alas the guy is controlled by those that stole the election for him. An if we say we “move on” without this matter being heard then we cultivating excellent reciepe for a disaster in the near future. We need to know what went wrong for us to deal with them for our childrens sake. We can not sit back and say its normal for a foreigner like Chavura to be found in the election saver room with dubious authority when we are conducting an iportant…

    • The reason why Kenyatta may not win is the fact that the opposition will not allow the same team to run the elections. Remember they killed the ICT manager of the team a few days before the elections.

    • Whether preliminaries or not a competent judiciary is supposed to provide guidance on the 14 days and provide and communicate timekeeping on a daily basis.

  8. @12 the key difference was that in Kenya, the petition process/ trial was led by a competent and professional Judiciary. Our Concourt (Zambian) was all at sea and did not appreciate their role as arbiters. Note too that the Judges in Kenya are appointed by an independent body and not the president. They go through a stringent vetting process. I need not say what pertains in the Zambian scenario.

  9. Let us not beat about the bush. American John Kerry’s declaration that the recent Kenyan elections had been free and fair was premeditated. It was America standing in solidarity with the forces of darkness. America must be seen to support and encourage transparent democracy.

  10. justice is not only justice when it goes your way. Grandstanding and playing to the gallery is not what wins you court cases. Raila did not run to the likes of Maimane or Malema to try and correct the perceived wrong. He got the right kind of legal minds to handle his case. Raila did not pour scorn on Uhuru or even claim there’s no President in Kenya.

    • @Czar,
      1.) “Raila did not pour scorn on Uhuru or even claim there’s no President in Kenya”.?
      LOL –So you are saying Raila Odinga showed solidarity with Uhuru Kenyatta? And he demonstrated this solidarity by petitioning the election results, which as a result have been declared invalid? Are you a comedian or something?

      2.) “Raila did not run to the likes of Maimane or Malema to try and correct the perceived wrong”.
      Czar, HH was INVITED to RSA by Democratic Alliance. Which part of this fact do you find troubling?

    • @Czar,
      Accept you have been embarrassed by the supreme court ruling of Kenya. Judicial institutions are intact and non willy-niily and compromised as Zambian judges. Zambian courts can rule but Lungu does not even respect judgements. That is the reason we have nullified MPs still serving as MPs. Presidential petition could not even be heard in Zambian courts of law. Shame on US. Kenyan judiciary has shown Africa in particular that a petition by opposition can be heard in the courts of law.

  11. Ati free and fare kwisa? It is not foreign observers to mound your destiny. Whatever is fraudulent is fraudulent. It does not matter if everyone is in support! We are still waiting for the way forward on Lusaka Central and Munali MP election nullifications. Our Judiciary is a big mockery and the biggest threat to the growth of our young democracy. We must begin to demand for Judicial reforms as citizens! Enough of this impunity we have witnessed in the last two years!

  12. This shows that Uhuru Kenyatta did not legitimately win those elections. They were a fraud. Here in Zambia the position is the same: We still do not know who genuinely won last year’s elections and will probably never know. This is the true position

  13. The writer shouldn’t use a term ‘history of Africa ‘what about Zimbabwe in 2008? Uhuru Kenyatta is going to win flat out.its not possible for uhuru to lose because ethnically he is coming from bigger tribe.

    • I am Kenyan and I can tell you for a fact that in a free and fair election, Uhuru Kenyatta cannot win against Raila Odinga. Uhuru’s community, though most populous is only 22% of Kenya’s population. Raila’s coalition in has upwards of 40%.

      That said although ethnicity cannot be ignored in Kenyan elections, a lot more people are voting on issues and this is where Uhuru’s party lost. This is why the electoral commission (IEBC), went out of its way to engineer a win for Uhuru.

      However it goes in two month’s time I would say it is a win for institutional democracy against politics of patronage and th Big Man Syndrome that throttles Africa’s development.

    • @22.1 Sam Simba

      Thank you Sam Simba for clearing this matter. If Uhuru Kenyatta cannot lose, why did he have to rig?

  14. Why are people comparing the elections of Kenya to the one that was done in Zambia? I for one was an election monitor and i know very well what was happening……during and after the elections. I can proudly say i went round more than 20 polling stations during the counting and i never saw anything sinister about the results…PF won with hands down. I witnessed the counting and witnessed the voting pattern.
    In Zambia the people who rigged the elections were the opposition…we had so many UPND MONITORS and every time they heard a name from Chipata the ballot paper will not be stamped especially for the presidential one….but if the name is from the other side, especially starting with H the presidential ballot will be stamped in the affirmative …..and in all the polling stations i…

  15. went to HH lost by far. so which elections where rigged? Lets just wait for 2021 baneeee……even if you star comparing with Kenya, the Zambian elections were done and dusted….what UPND must do is to go the convention and restructure its leadership for the sake of oneness and transparency….in football if the striker is ineffective you substitute and put in another one.. that’s the way to go, if its the goal keeper change the goalie and try the other one…

  16. The decision was political because the judge says doings is the legitimate winner but fresh elections again because odinga should just have been sworn in finish. I doubt the judges.

  17. Anyway, losing is very painful…..even in football, boxing, netball, drought, isolo, ichiyenga, ichidunuu etc…when you lose you want to cry that you never lost….kikkikkki

  18. That Kenyan election was cooked in broad daylight. The very fact they decided to kill that tech guy should have been a red flag.

  19. This judgement was impartial. In Zed it would have been compromised.No wounder Late President Sata had to bring in Judge Chikopa from Malawi because he had no confidence with the Locals.The concourt should take a leaf from Kenya.

  20. Zambians: In every situation GOD is there and HE sometimes (not always) allows certain things to happen for a purpose and also for mankind to learn something out of it. Kenya has shown this in Africa: I always say imitate King Solomon’s wisdom from GOD whether a Soldier, Policeman, Judge, Accountant, Magistrate, Farmer, Engineer, Student at school, Nurse, Doctor, Marketer name them, Wisdom and recognition of GOD’s Power should prevail in your life: Proverbs 3: 1 – 7

    • Forget God, iwe. When you will we grow up and accept responsibility for our own failures?
      We know what is wrong and what is right. Our system is messed up and it is up to us to clean it up.

  21. Zambian Judges wake up and do your job properly. Don’t put your Country in wrong hands due to silver and gold. God will judge you dearly for your injustices. Just to please the master and not God himself shame upon you.

  22. HH should demand refunds from his Lawyers for not providing any evidence before the court if there was any. So Lawyers in Kenya re more learned that our Zambian ones who spend 4 years at UNZA or whichever University only to learn about preliminaries. Next Zambians have cases before they should hire Kenyan Lawyers who know that time is of incense

  23. Thats the way to go! Within 14 days a petition is head and a ruling is given well done Kenyans!
    When you have evidence you dont hesitate presenting it. The first chance you get,you lay it before court. Alot of people must learn from Kenya.

  24. Like this, I would say Africa has started making strides. In a continent where office holders fear to loose their jobs than to lose their lives, what has happened in Kenya is commendable. Seeing Rupiah Banda cry when he lost the elections and asked why he was crying, only to say I feel for my friends(cabinet ministers), who will loose their jobs with this loss made most Zambians very sad. Let us be professional and avoid always defending our jobs by compromising ourselves with politicians of which 99% of our politicians are not truthful at all

  25. It was business as usual for Kenya’s Kenyatta – stealing an election in a reckless and most blatant manner; and then, subsequently defying Supreme Court Orders to open up the system for scrutiny. Frankly, except for our Jonathan Edgar Changwa Lungu, not even Donald Trump is above the law, much less Kenya’s filthy rich Uhuru Kenyatta. Kudos to those gallant Supreme Court Judges who have braved everything, putting their very own lives on the line, just so that justice prevails.

  26. This is a good precedent in Africa and in particular Zambia. Lungu asked HH to provide evidence to show that he won the 2016 Election. Now both Lungu and HH should present their evidence in an Independent Court and allow the Petition to be heard. The Commonwealth should facilitate the Petition Hearing as a matter of urgency. The Independent Court’s verdict will be Final and both Lungu and HH should abide by the Verdict. The Petition should be heard within 14 days and the Court will guide the process. Like in Kenya 14 days will include week Saturday and Sunday. Chapwa!! Only then will Zambians re-unite,reconcile and start the Healing process.

  27. Very brave and welcome decision, not only for Kenya but for the entire of Africa. Indeed a precedent-setting decision. Maybe other scared judges like our very own may gather any iota of courage and bravery from this decision.

    Zambian judges really missed an opportunity to go down in history as trend-setters when they could not even allow the evidence to be presented in court.

    Bravo Kenyan judges!

    • From what we know on the ground, Uhuru Kenyatta has been winning by rigging. In the absence of rigging, he may not win, and that could be the dawn of a new day for Kenya. It’s true that Kenya is corrupt. It is one of the most corrupt countries in Africa, possibly second only to Nigeria. What that means, besides, is that Kenya’s majority are poor. It is these, the poor majority, who, in the absence of rigging, could turn things around against the incumbent.

    • That is remotely true. If he is confident in winning, he should have not lost his cool and turn on the judges. He called them ‘thugs’

  28. Hazaluza Hagain in Zambia! It is a different case here! It is also time for government to make sure that in that province heads of cattle and children are not on the register! It is not feasible that the numbers in that province seem to be higher that provinces with more population!

  29. For obvious reasons, PF cadres are quick to talk about HH and 14 days as though his lawyers were in charge of the court process. Let us address the fundamental issues of:
    1. Why has PF made every effort to ensure the UPND petition is ever heard. We all know how this government has made it really hard to have the petition heard.
    2. What credibility does the international monitors have given what transpired in Kenya. Miiions of votes were never verified and the Judge admitted this anomaly alone is enough to overturn an election. Is the international community In a consipirancy of some sort?

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