Railas fresh demands after nullification of Kenyattas victory

The National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga has commended the Supreme Court of Kenya for giving a verdict, which he termed fair and historical.

Raila now wants a complete overhaul of the IEBC leadership ahead of the fresh election date, saying they cannot be trusted to hold a free and fair poll by November 1, when Kenyans will return to the ballot.

Odinga further said he will seek legal redress against IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and the six other commissioners. Odinga was speaking at the Supreme Court of Kenya after the judges had read out their verdict.

The determination on the presidential election petition filed by NASA against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was delivered by the Supreme Court judges on Friday, August 31.

The Supreme Court judges said the IEBC did not conduct the exercise fairly.

In their determination, where five judges ruled in favour of the petitioner and two against the petitioner’s plea.

The Court said the IEBC did not conduct the presidential election in accordance with the Constitution of Kenya.

Chief Justice David Maraga said the court was satisfied that the IEBC committed irregularities in transmission of results.

CJ Maraga, however, said there was no misconduct on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s side.

The CJ concluded that the irregularities in the electoral process affected the integrity of the entire exercise.

Following the Supreme Court verdict, Kenyans will return to the vote by November 1.

After the verdict, NASA chief principal, Raila Odinga, gave his speech. Read it below:

“This is indeed a very historic day for the people of Kenya; by extension to the people of the continent of Africa. For the first time, in the history of Africa democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president.

This is a precedent-setting ruling, and therefore very historical.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Supreme Court judges, led by the Chief Justice David Maraga for posterity of the people of Kenya.

“Secondly, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our lawyers, who burned the midnight oil; who worked so tirelessly in order to prepare for this case. Also, another team of five dedicated young Kenyans, who worked without sleep to gather all the evidence that has been used by our lawyers in the petition.

“This is a triumph for the people of Kenya; and we said at the beginning that our journey to Canaan was on unstoppable. On the 8th of August, we crossed the River Jordan.

We have reached the city of Jericho, we are marching on to the city of Jerusalem; and we shall get there. As has been said by my other colleagues, we do not have faith in the electoral commission as it is currently constituted.

“They have committed a criminal act, most of them actually belong to jail; and therefore, we are going to ask for the prosecution of all the electoral commission officers, who have committed this monstrous crime against the people of Kenya.

“Today is Eid ul Adha and I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate our Muslim brothers, who are here with us today. It is even good that this judgment has come today. We are going to issue a comprehensive statement later Friday.”

Tags:

IEBC raila raila odinga Chief Justice David Maraga Supreme Court judges National Super Alliance (NASA) IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati presidential candidate Canaan irregularities in the electoral process nullification of Uhuru victory Odinga fresh demands

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