Nairobi – Since the results were announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) last Tuesday confirming Ruto as the winner, things have been moving fast including other countries far and near congratulating the victor for a “well-fought” election.
Many Kenyans even those from within the ranks of Raila’s own movement have seemed to move on after the disappointment of losing to Ruto who has been painstakingly sounding the call for national reconciliation to a heavily divided Kenya.
But Raila Odinga is putting his money where his mouth is and if anything he will continue to milk the otherwise thin hope that the Kenyan judiciary may spring a big surprise like it did in 2017 when it ruled that the presidential election in which he was a front runner had to be redone due to the serious flaws and rigging that had dogged it.
The then president Uhuru Kenyatta who was asking for a second term had to give in to this spectacular ruling to go for a rerun with his long-time political foe Odinga.
The 77-year-old veteran politician who came second in the August 9 presidential election with 48.85% behind deputy president Ruto with 50.49%, according to the electoral commission, will hope the same judicial drama plays out this year.
And Raila and his camp may be encouraged by the discordant voices issuing from the IEBC whose head and those around him have been reading from different sheets in view of the election outcome.
But Kenyan political pundits say, Odinga’s attempt in the courts is like a drowning man clutching at political-judicial straws the outcome of which will be dismally in favour of the results which would be very hard (impossible some say) to discredit in any serious way.
Odinga described the August 9 poll outcome as a “parody” but as a curious twist in this presidential election debacle he has reaped the backing of outgoing president Kenyatta for this election which could not help him secure a clear advantage over Ruto with whom Uhuru had fallen out immediately after the 2017 elections.
“We hope we have built a good case and that we will win,” said Daniel Maanzo, who is part of Odinga’s legal team.
The Supreme Court, the country’s highest judicial body, has 14 days to make its decision and if the election results are annulled, a new election must be held within 60 days.
A few hours before the announcement of the results of the presidential election by the president of the electoral commission on August 15, four of the seven members said they were rejecting them.
They reproached Wafula Chebukati, the chairman of the body, for his “opaque” management and his lack of consultation.
The IEBC chief dismissed these accusations, claiming that he had exercised his prerogatives in accordance with the law of the land despite “intimidation and harassment”.
APA