The presidency is now a done deal for William Ruto. Kenyatta’s deputy president, leader of the UDA coalition, and winner of the general election with 50.5% of the total votes, held in the country on 9 August, will be sworn in on 13 September, thus bringing to a close his political career that began 30 years ago, in 1992.
This morning, in fact, came the Kenyan Supreme Court’s decision on the request to annul the elections for fraud and lack of transparency, brought by his challenger, leader of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition, Raila Odinga. The historic opposition leader, a four-time presidential candidate, has thus seen his fifth – and probably last – run for the presidency of his country come to an end (https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/martha-karua-i-accept-but-disagree-with-supreme-court-verdict–3937636).
The Supreme Court rejected all nine appeals accusing the elections of being fraudulent. The supreme court also ruled on the main evidence brought by the lawyers of those who challenged the elections, namely the internal rifts within the electoral commission, which, shortly before declaring the results, had said it could not ensure that the results were correct. According to the court, the details of that affair, although they took it into account when judging the affair as a whole, remain obscure and, as there is no tangible and concrete evidence to support these assertions, they would appear to be more the result of internal problems within the commission. Another relevant fact exposed by the court, concerns the documents and evidence brought during the appeal. According to the supreme court’s statement, some of this evidence is alleged to be outright fraud, documents fabricated to plead the case (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62785434).
Odinga and the coalition, while disagreeing with the verdict, accepted it. As stated in a tweet posted on the coalition leader Azimio’s profile, their political journey is not yet over, and they will remain active in ensuring their country’s increasing transparency and respect for institutions and thus, ultimately, an increasing level of democracy.
