Showing posts with label
Latest Update from Kenyan Supreme Court.
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Showing posts with label
Latest Update from Kenyan Supreme Court.
Show all posts
By Jerry Okungu
Election Petition puts Kenya in a spin
Indeed we are in a spin. Nobody really knows what the outcome will be
when CJ Mutunga and his fellow wise members of the bench will read out
that all earth breaking verdict.
Assuming that the Supreme
Court holds the verdict of the IEBC that indeed Uhuru Kenyatta won the
presidency, Raila Odinga will most likely accept the verdict and move on
with his life in the knowledge that he explored all legal avenues in
the land to seek justice. He will leave the political scene with a clear
conscience that he never did anything untoward that might have plunged
the country into another round of turmoil. What no one can predict would
be how the millions of Kenyans who lined up and voted for him all over
the country that sunny Monday would take the final verdict. It will be a
very uneasy peace that will haunt Kenyans for many years to come.
As I see it, the future of one Kenya right now belongs in the hands of
CJ Mutunga and his bench. The ruling must be convincing and persuasive
to both Jubilee and Cord followers such that there is no doubt in any
body’s mind when it is delivered. It must not just be fair but must be
seen to be fair for both parties.
This heavy burden does not
belong to the Supreme Court alone. Both lawyers of the petition and
defense must convince ordinary Kenyans who will be following the
proceedings that they have legal facts to convince the nation that this
case was not about political bad blood between Raila Odinga and Uhuru
Kenyatta but rather a test for democracy, rule of law and the
independence of the judiciary in dispensing justice fairly based on
facts presented before them.However , even before the petition is heard
and determined; before the President –elect and his deputy are sworn in,
strange things have started happening that may scare Kenyans who have
been used to freedom of association and expression in the last 10 years
under Mwai Kibaki.
Suddenly Kenyans are being warned left and
right by all sorts of civil servants and security personnel about this
and that crime. Peace has become the blanket to cover all sorts of
indiscretions of our rulers. The newly appointed Inspector General of
Police seems keen on reintroducing draconian brute force that the police
were known for during Moi’s era. Already his boys have injured two
innocent Kenyans whose only crime was to take part in a peaceful
demonstration in support of the petition.
And to cup it all,
the same day he banned all “illegal public gatherings” that also
included open air religious prayer meetings. One wonders how such
backward thinking can bring peace and unity in a country that is already
so polarized. Is this how the police should deal with ordinary people
of this country? Where is the Police Oversight Commission to interrogate
these blatant violations of our civil liberties that are entrenched in
our constitution? If David Kimaiyo our new Police Chief does not know,
the freedom Kenyans enjoy today did not come on a silver platter. It was
not a Christmas gift either. There are people who suffered for it and
paid the ultimate prize. For this reason, Kenyans may never give up
their freedoms easily. They may have to go back to the trenches if need
be.
It is indeed true Uhuru Kenyatta is now President-elect, court petition
challenging his election notwithstanding. Nobody should begrudge him
of that because he didn’t sign his own victory certificate.
Somebody
else did that and handed it over to him in a public forum. Having said
that, it was curious to see how the national security apparatus handled
Uhuru right from the time he was declared the winner. Suddenly he had a
presidential limo complete with a flag and unmarked security detail that
most probably rivaled that of the sitting Head of State. Which begs my
next question; do we have two heads of state at the moment?
A
week later, he took a most deserved holiday to the South Coast and how
did he travel to there? He took two Air Force jets one for him and the
other for his wife to get there! As I watched these jet landing in
South Coast, I counted the number of passengers from each one of them. I
didn’t see much. All I saw was Uhuru and his “Aide de Camp” and a few
hangers on who had lost elections coming from the first jet. When his
wife Margaret landed, it was the same story.
I tried to scratch my head to recall when any sitting Head of State
including Kenya’s President Kibaki has ever done such a thing. And I
asked myself the one fundamental question; if the President –elect can
begin to indulge in such reckless spending of public resources even
before he is sworn in, how will it be once he is installed in office?
How will he control public spending in his government? What was so
difficult in using one Air Force Jet for both of them? Or better still,
why not Kenya Airways and pick a small plane to land him and his wife in
Diani beach?
If I were Uhuru Kenyatta, I would hold my horses until this petition
against me is over with because once you have tasted power it will be
very difficult to relinquish it. It can lead you to make many irrational
decisions.
By Jerry Okungu
