Kenya’s ruling Jubilee party has filed a suit in the Supreme Court seeking to stop his former election contender Raila Odinga of the National Super Alliance (NASA) from stopping the repeat presidential election scheduled for next week.
In its case, Jubilee Party said Raila and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka should be cited for contempt following their public statements the repeat election would not happen until electoral reforms proposed by NASA were implemented by the IEBC.
Following a disputed general election on August 8, the Supreme Court nullified the result and called for a fresh election citing inefficiencies on the side of the electoral body. Subsequently, Odinga and his NASA party proposed that IEBC undertakes changes in its administration including firing the persons that presided over the ‘sham’ election.
They have since been rallying Kenyans to demonstrate until the electoral reforms are put in place, lest the repeat election won’t be any different. Odinga recently declared he had withdrawn from the race for lack of trust in the IEBC.
“The same petitioners who sought this order have now embarked on a calculated scheme, including the use of violence and threats of unlawful sabotage of the elections, all in an effort to ensure that the fresh election set for October 26 does not take place,” reads the petition filed by Jubilee’s lawyer Tom Macharia.
Jubilee argues that the actions of Odinga and NASA in the recent weeks to sabotage the election are tantamount to undermining the ruling by Chief Justice David Maraga that Kenya should have a fresh election. They say this undermines the authority and integrity of the Supreme Court.
“Unless this honourable court urgently intervenes, there is a likelihood the petitioners will proceed to successfully execute their scheme to unlawfully interfere with the forthcoming fresh presidential election,” it adds.
Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju in a sworn affidavit said that NASA who petitioned the Supreme court disputing the August election “cannot be allowed to deliberately create an environment whose ultimate aim is to ensure that the election is not conducted as directed by this honourable court, with the ultimate aim of creating anarchy and ascending to power in a manner other than through the fresh election ordered by this honourable court”.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has repeatedly accused Raila Odinga of holding the country hostage and subjecting it to a costly repeat election process which is affecting the economy and inciting tribal hatred.