Inside Raila’s secret card in presidential petition ahead of Supreme Court showdown

Azimio One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga and his deputy Martha Karua on Monday filed a petition at the Supreme Court, seeking to challenge the 2022 presidential election results.

However, questions linger about whether Raila will triumph in the corridors of justice for the second time after the Supreme Court then led by David Maraga annulled the 2017 elections in favour of Raila against his political nemesis turn friend President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Armed with a legal team conversant with constitutional matters, Raila believes the August 9 General Election was conducted in a manner that was in disregard of the constitution, rule of law and national values, principles of good governance, and the lawful authority of the Court.

According to Raila, there was “premeditated unlawful and criminal subversion of the integrity and constitutionality of the electoral process in order to assist and secure a fraudulent result.”

Raila further accused IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati of having a wilful intent to subvert the sovereign will of the people of Kenya and overthrow the constitutional order.

Odinga and Karua also state that the IEBC did not tally and verify the count before declaring the results of the Presidential Election, adding that there was an interference with the integrity, credibility, and security of the election.

The Azimio leaders further state the declared presidential results lacked transparency, accountability, verifiability, and efficiency.

Odinga’s widely expected court challenge will launch the next phase in the closely contested election, which pitted two of the country’s most established politicians against each other and was marred by division among members of Kenya’s independent electoral commission.

Minutes before the electoral commission’s chair, Wafula Chebukati, announced last week that Ruto had won about 50.5 per cent of the vote, compared with Odinga’s 48.5 per cent, four of seven members declared they could not stand by the results because of the “opaque nature” of the process.

Among the allegations made by Odinga and his running mate, Martha Karua, in their lawsuit is that Chebukati “did in fact fraudulently manipulate and distort the presidential election results” and that Ruto failed to secure the 50-per cent-plus-one-vote majority needed to win.

In a news conference Monday afternoon, Odinga alleged that the vote tally involved “criminality” and framed his lawsuit as part of a fight for Kenya’s future.

Raila also believes William Ruto, who is the 9th respondent in the petition, did not achieve the 50 per cent plus one requirement to be declared the winner of the August 9 General Election.