Though the Supreme Court’s decision upholding President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in the October 26 repeat poll has closed the legal journey for this year’s protracted presidential election, it has no doubt failed to produced a comprehensive political settlement.
The highest court in the land dismissed the two legal challenges to last month’s repeat presidential vote that opposition Nasa coalition stayed out of and whose outcome it has refused to accept as legitimate.
Monday’s decision paves the way for Mr Kenyatta’s swearing-in next Tuesday, but given the opposition’s stand, it is unlikely to end Kenya’s worst political crisis since 2007/08 that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people.
The truth is that the highly charged atmosphere that has gripped Kenya following the Supreme Court’s nullification of the August 8 presidential election risks derailing the economy and has already prompted the government to cut its growth forecast.
Private sector activity dropped to a record low in October as output, new orders and employment contracted, a recent survey found.
Worse still, human rights groups say at least 66 people have died in bloodshed linked to the annulled August 8 poll and the repeat vote on October 26. As we pen this article, tension remains sky-high in sections of Nairobi and the country following the killing of five people on Saturday night.
Kenya cannot continue on this path for long before something snaps. And it will be naïve to believe that the Supreme Court ruling will offer a solution to the political crisis besetting Kenya.
Yes, the ruling will in the short term ease the uncertainty that has been looming over the country since August as was aptly demonstrated by the reaction of the markets.
But what Kenya needs is a long- term settlement that has the backing of the protagonists—Mr Kenyatta and his main challenger, Raila Odinga.
Mr Kenyatta had said he would not engage in dialogue with the opposition until “constitutional options” had been exhausted. Time is now ripe for open and honest talks.
Kenyans should only hope that the country’s leadership have the eyes to see that only painful sacrifices and compromises will produce an outcome that will enable the once-vibrant economy turn a corner, and attract enough investment to help reduce mass unemployment among its youth.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
