[Chief Justice David Maraga in a past event. He becomes the first African head of judiciary to annul presidential elections. Photo/Nation]
Chief Justice David Maraga becomes the first head of judiciary to in Africa to invalidate elections of a sitting president and the third in the whole world.
Only Austria and Ukraine have ever had elections of the president declared null and void by the Supreme Courts and Kenya now joins the list of the few.
During the constitutional timeline of making a decision, a six-bench judge led by Maraga declared by majority election of president Uhuru Kenyatta null and void.
The decision which was arrived by four judges, with two dissenting may stand long in Africa and probably set a precedent for future presidential disputes across the world.
Many presidential petitions have been usually thrown by courts on grounds of technicality and lack of sufficient evidence and Kenya’s unique ruling could be referred to by many courts.
The fourteenth Chief Justice of the country took a different direction from the 2013 similar petition which was thrown of because of technicalities.
Maraga 66 replaced Willy Mutunga, a human rights activist who retired last year before the end of his tenure.