The supreme court of Kenya judges. [Photo/ The Judiciary]
After throwing the country into a crisis of monumental proportions, Chief Justice David Maraga has a chance to redeem the image of the Supreme Court when the hearing of petitions challenging the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta start, political scientist Mutahi Ngunyi has said.Justice Maraga and his colleagues at the Supreme Court nullified the results of the presidential elections held on August 8, plunging the country into unchartered waters. President Kenyatta defeated NASA’s Raila Odinga by more than 1.4 million votes.The court ordered for a fresh presidential election, which IEBC set for October 26, but Raila dropped out of the race. Six other candidates challenged President Kenyatta, but the Jubilee leader got 98% of the votes cast. Prof Ngunyi now says that the court can redeem itself by choosing to uphold the election of President Kenyatta. “These decisions (of the supreme court) will either burn country or thrust Kenya to new heights,” an analyst at Ngunyi’s Fort Hall School of Government says. The analysts, however, warn that there are unresolved issues around the Supreme Court, but which the court can overcome by making the right decision. The pending issues, according to the political scientists, include: the court relying on forged documents to nullify the election, Supreme Court judges meeting NASA lawyers and politicians during the petition hearing (which was decided in favour of Raila) and CJ Maraga’s decision to call a meeting of the court judges a day to the elections to hear a case seeking to stop the election. “If the October (26) election is nullified, in my view, country will snub,” Ngunyi says in his weekly analysis of current political events. The analysts also say that Raila does not have a solid plan. They accuse him of gambling, by trying many ideas to try and see which one will work. “I want to inform the country that Raila has absolutely no plan,” Prof Ngunyi says. “Raila is just a gambler. And he is gambling with ideas to see which one will work. From economic sabotage to secession, interim government to reporting Kenyans to mzungu in America,” he adds.