Raila lawyers set to fight Uhuru victory in Supreme Court

IEBC to hold fresh elections within 60 days if there is a successful petition on the presidential election.

BY CONSTANT MUNDA AND MWANGI MAINA
MONDAY, 11 MARCH, 2013

Defeated Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) is this morning set to challenge the presidential election victory of Jubilee alliance's Uhuru Kenyatta. Cord presidential candidate Prime Minister Raila Odinga declined to concede defeat to Uhuru on Saturday and vowed to seek redress at the Supreme Court, citing electoral irregularities.

Raila and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka yesterday appointed a 10-man legal team to contest the presidential vote at the Supreme Court. Under legal timelines on elections, Cord has up to Saturday to file its case, but if the petition is filed today, the Supreme Court has 14 days to determine it.

The final verdict which cannot be contested is therefore expected on March 25. If the petition is successful, a fresh presidential election would be held on May 24. This is because the constitution requires the IEBC to hold fresh elections within 60 days if there is a successful petition on the presidential election.

The Cord petition team lawyers George Oraro, Education minister and Senator-elect for Makueni county, Mutula Kilonzo and Siaya county Senator-elect and Lands minister James Orengo. Others are government chief legal adviser and now Busia county Senator-elect Amos Wako, Sports minister Ababu Namwamba, the MP-elect for Budalang'I, veteran lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee and defeated Meru senatorial candidate Gitobu Imanyara.

Others in the team are lawyers Chacha Odera, Ambrose Rachier and Raila's adviser on constitutional affairs Paul Mwangi. Cord, said the three ministers, Kilonzo, Orengo and Namwamba will not be directly involved in the proceedings as litigants. Instead, they will provide technical support and advice the team because the law does not allow cabinet ministers to represent clients before a court of law.

By yesterday, the lawyers were said to be putting final touches to their petition papers, expected to be largely based on allegations that Raila made in televised statement on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, Raila alleged the tallying process at the IEBC's National Election Centre at the Bomas of Kenya was marred with "rampant illegality and massive tampering" in a statement that he labeled, "democracy on trial".

This was deepite the wide margin between him and the victor who won by 832,887 votes and acquired a 50.03 percent constitutionally prescribed threshold. The Elections Observation group (Elog), which comprised several international groups, gave the election a clean bill of health as it affirmed its own tallying had concurred largely with that of IEBC.

The European Observer Group had earlier also commended the Kenyan electoral process. Odinga was, however, quick to plead with his supporters to remain calm as his legal team seeks court remedy. "Any violence now could destroy this nation forever, but it would not serve anyone's interests," he said. The outgoing premier, the last the country would have under the new dispensation, made it clear that his camp would fully abide by the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Court holds exclusive mandate to handle such a case and it's led by Dr Willy Mutunga, its president. With the appointment of Kalpana Rawal as deputy chief justice yet to be formalised, the seven-member bench now has six. One could stay out of the matter to leave five who constitute a viable odd number in case of a vote, to avoid a stalemate.

Other Supreme Court judges are Dr Smokin Wanjala, Philip Tunoi, Njoki Ndung’u, Jackton Boma Ojwang and Mohamed Ibrahim. In his acceptance speech, Uhuru called on Raila and other losers in the presidential race to be ready to work with his government. He said there should be no prevalent hard feelings among them, noting that winning and losing are components of elections, but Kenya had a long-term agenda that requires unity.