Kenya’s top court to deliver Monday ruling on petition challenging Ruto’s win

By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI Kenya

Kenya’s top court is set to deliver its ruling on Monday on the petition challenging the declaration of William Ruto as the winner of the country’s August 9 presidential election.

The Supreme Court’s ruling comes 14 days since the petition was filed, as former Prime Minister alleges foul play by the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The results declared on August 15 by the chairman of the IEBC Wafula Chebukati showed Ruto emerged the winner with 50.49 percent of the votes, beating Raila Odinga who had 48.85 percent. The other candidates George Wajackoyah and David Mwaure obtained 0.44 percent and 0.27 percent respectively.

However, as Chebukati was announcing the results, four of seven Commissioners held a separate press briefing to denounce the results.

The commissioners also alleged being left out on the periphery in decision-making at the IEBC, accusing the Chair of making the decisions unilaterally.

Odinga went ahead to file a petition challenging the election result on August 22, hoping to overturn the result.

Submissions by lawyers ended on Saturday, after which the court’s seven judges retreated to consider them and make a judgment.

Should the judges nullify the result, this would be the second consecutive election that is voided by the top court, having also nullified the 2017 election and ordered a repeat.

Ahead of Monday’s ruling, police have been deployed strategically across the country to deal with the public’s reaction.- Africa