Relief as Raila goes to Supreme Court

Nasa leader Raila Odinga Wednesday caved in to local and international pressure to challenge last week’s re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the Supreme Court.

Mr Odinga, who insisted the poll was stolen in favour of his opponent, said the Nasa coalition he leads would go to court partly because the State was harassing rights organisations that had made clear their intention to do so.

“We have now decided to move to the Supreme Court and lay in front of the world the making of computer generated elections,” Mr Odinga said. The opposition leader had caused anxiety with his earlier declaration that the coalition would not seek legal redress despite being robbed of victory.

He, however, maintained that his coalition will not accept results of the August 8 poll until the Independent Electoral and boundaries Commission (IEBC) answers fundamental questions they have raised.

Mr Odinga insisted that the results that the IEBC announced last week are null and void and that he and his supporters do not recognise Mr Kenyatta as President-elect.

“IEBC might have declared Uhuru Kenyatta President-elect, but a vast majority of Kenyans have not accepted it,” he said.

IEBC declared Mr Kenyatta the winner of the poll after garnering 54 per cent of the total valid votes cast against Mr Odinga’s 44 per cent. Mr Odinga said the IEBC had on Tuesday admitted that it could not supply all Form 34As and requested for more time to do so, raising the question as to source of the numbers used to declare Mr Kenyatta the winner of the poll.

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“This means that both the provisional and final results announced last week are null and void and that Uhuru Kenyatta was not lawfully declared winner,” Mr Odinga said.

The announcement that Nasa will be moving to court comes a day after the White House congratulated Mr Kenyatta on his re-election and urged those not satisfied with the outcome to use constitutional means to challenge the results.

International observers comprising the European Union, Commonwealth, African Union and the Carter Foundation had given the voting and counting of the votes a clean bill of health, attracting sharp reaction from Mr Odinga. The opposition said the change of mind to seek legal redress was informed by recent attacks on civil society groups that had shown interest in credible elections.

“We had said we will not go to court, but the raid on AfriCOG and KHRC has compelled us to move to the Supreme Court,” he said.

Non-Governmental Organisations Board has since Monday sought to shut down the two rights organisations, citing non-compliance with the law and tax evasion.

Nasa’s decision to table its case before the Supreme Court must have come as a surprise to the Assumption of Office Committee, which had prematurely commenced preparations for the swearing in of Mr Kenyatta.

The team visited Kasarani Sports Complex, the venue where Mr Kenyatta would have been sworn in on August 29 if no petition was filed against his re-election.