Kenya Decides: Raila Odinga’s running mate reacts to Supreme Court ruling

Raila Odinga’s running mate for the 9 August Kenya presidential election, Martha Karua, has said she disagrees with the findings of the Supreme Court.

“The court has spoken. I respect but disagree with the findings,” she tweeted a few minutes after the court announced its unanimous decision to dismiss all petitions against the election of William Ruto as the next president of Kenya.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Supreme Court of Kenya on Monday dismissed the various petitions challenging the result of the 9 August election which saw William Ruto, incumbent vice president of Kenya, emerge as the winner.

By this ruling, the court upheld the election of Mr Ruto as the next president of Kenya.

President-elect William Ruto will be sworn in next Tuesday as stipulated in the constitution.

This was Raila Odinga’s fifth unsuccessful bid to become president, and in his words, at the age of 77, the final attempt.

The 9 August election saw Mr Ruto emerge winner with 7,176,141 votes, 50.49 per cent of the total votes cast, to defeat his closest challenger, ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga who polled 6,942,930, 48.85 per cent of votes cast. Mr Ruto also achieved the minimum 25 per cent of votes in 39 counties.

The court has spoken. I respect but disagree with the findings .

— Martha Karua SC (@MarthaKarua) September 5, 2022

The above results were announced by the chairman of the IEBC, Wafula Chebukati, six days after the elections.

The results were, however, rejected by Mr Odinga who challenged it in court saying the votes were manipulated in favour of Mr Ruto.

The election was highly competitive between the two men leaving the two other contenders almost out of the race.

Also, before the results were announced, four of the seven members of the electoral commission refused to authenticate the result.

“We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of this last phase of the general election,” the BBC quoted Juliana Cherera, the vice-chairperson of the IEBC, as saying on the day the results were announced.

Chiamaka Okafor is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.