[Supreme Court Judges in a recent sitting. Reports indicate that senior people allied to Jubilee tried to reach a number of judges to make ruling in their favour. Photo/Nation]
The decision by majority Supreme Court judges to nullify reelection of President Uhuru Kenyatta was not an easy one to reach at, reports Sunday Nation.
Prior to the ruling, judges were facing a tricky situation following bowing out of Judge Mohammed Ibrahim who had been admitted in Nairobi hospital.
This meant that to reach a decision, four judges had to write a similar ruling because a tie would have automatically led to upholding of IEBC declaration.
Sources say that from onset, CJ David Maraga and his Deputy Philomena Mwilu had made up their minds that the process matters more than outcome and that if it was wrong, and then the entire outcome was invalid.
On the other side, Justice Wanjala Smokin was said to be conscious of the 2013 ruling hence he was likely to cast the vote against the entire process.
And Jubilee officials are said to have made attempts to reach Isaac Lenaola to join forces with Njoki Ndung’u and Jackton Ojwang who had dissented.
“The person who tilted the decision was Isaac Lenaola,”says former LSK CEO Apollo Mboya.
“Had he allowed himself to be influenced then we could have had a tie that would definitely mean that the declaration to be uphold,” he further says as reported by the Nation.
Sources claim that a Cabinet Secretary and two city lawyers are said to have made several attempts to convince unnamed judge in his official residence but all in vain.
By Friday morning, Jubilee team was aware of the loss and that explained why Aden Duale and Kipchumba Murkomen failed to attend court proceedings despite attending the whole weeks.
Justice Maraga is said to have warned judges against opening their official phones to avert any attempts of external interference.