Kenya’s Deputy President and President-elect
(Photo: BBC )
By Buba Gagigo
The Supreme Court of Kenya has today (Monday) dismissed opposition Raila Odinga’s petitions seeking to nullify the President-elect’s victory.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who made his fifth presidential bid said Deputy President William Ruto’s narrow win was the product of ‘massive fraud’; four of the seven election commissioners disowned the result announced by the commission chairman, saying the tallying had been opaque, according to Reuters news.
Kenya’s Supreme Court unanimously affirmed William Ruto’s declaration as the victor of the country’s 9th August presidential elections, and rejected the opposition Odinga’s assertions that the electoral process was tainted by rigging.
According to Chief Justice Martha Koome, the election was free, fair, transparent, and credible; as opposed to the claims by Mr. Odinga.
Among others, Odinga claimed that the electoral commission’s chairman, Wafula Chebukati, staged a civilian coup, that election technology was hacked, and that votes were taken away from him and given to his opponent, Mr. Ruto.
After three days of case hearing presided over by a panel of seven-judge ruled that the eight petitions by the opposition claiming irregularities and calling for the elections to be cancelled were “without merit”.
This development would William Ruto sworn-in on 13th September 2022 as the 5th President after Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki and the outgoing President, Uhuru Kenyatta of the East African nation that gained independence from Britain on 12th December 1963.
After his confirmation as Kenya’s leader 13th September for the next 5 years, William Ruto would face the task of rebuilding the economy, creating employment and paying off Kenya’s debt that is now edging to the KSh 9 trillion mark.
During the launch of his manifesto dubbed ‘The Plan’, he promised to invest at least KSh250 billion over five years effective 2023, to boost agriculture and food security, provide MSMEs with reliable access to credit, build 250, 000 new affordable houses each year through public-private partnerships, and establish a settlement fund to acquire land and resettle up to a million landless families.
Other campaign promises of Mr. Ruto include a mandatory health insurance (NHIF), construction of a 100,000-kilometer fiber optic connectivity network, the closing of the current teacher shortage gap within two fiscal years, construction of new level 6 hospitals in six new locations, and the hiring of an initial 20, 000 health care workers,.
Ruto won with 50.49 percent of the votes (7,176,121 votes), Raila Odinga came second with 48.85 person of the votes (6,942,930 votes), opposition George Wajackoyah came third with 0.44 percent of the votes (61,969 votes), and another opposition Devid Waihiga came fourth with 0.23 percent of the votes (31,987 votes), according to Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC).