Kenya’s Supreme Court on Wednesday gave full details of its reasons for nullifying the August 8 presidential election which was won by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta stating that the election were “neither transparent or verifiable and so it had no choice but to nullify” the results.
The judges by a majority of four gave their judgement on September 1 but did not give reasons for nullifying the elections and ordering a fresh election.
On Wednesday the judges took time to read out the entire judgment which can now be access by the parties from the court.
The judges went further to say that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) did not verify the results of the election before announcing the results and refused to obey the court order asking it to allow proper scrutiny of the electronic voting system.
The court largely backed its reasons for canceling the August election results with what it calls irregularities and illegalities in the transmission of results.
The judges considered the poor manner in which the transmission process was carried out as a contravention of the country’s constitution and potentially depriving Kenyans the right to properly choose who governance them.
However dissenting judges who were against nullifying the election results considered the process free and fair and incident free stating that the results should have stood.
During the reading of the judgment there was heavy deployment of security personnel outside the court to prevent supporters of both parties from disrupting the proceedings.
Police cordoned off the entrances to the Supreme Court. Three water cannons and police barriers closed off the access routes.
On Tuesday, Kenya’s Chief Justice David Maraga said he was ‘prepared to pay the ultimate price’ to protect the country’s constitution following demonstrations over recent Supreme Court ruling on the Kenya’s presidential election results.
David Maraga issued a statement on behalf of his fellow judges in which he stated that there are attempts to intimidate judges and prevent them from working according to their conscience.
Maraga made reference to a judge who was “blocked by demonstrators from accessing the Kerugoya Law Courts for the hearing of her own petition” on Monday.
“Demonstrations have bordered on violence and are clearly intended to intimidate the judiciary and individual judges,” Maraga said.
He further noted that “These attacks are denigrating, demeaning and degrading and are meant to intimidate, threaten and cow the institution and individual judges. Such acts are not only unlawful but also savage in nature.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
