Generational Dynamics World View

[John J. Xenakis]

*** 2-Sep-17 World View -- Kenya's Supreme Court issues 'historic' ruling, overturning presidential election

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Kenya's Supreme Court issues 'historic' ruling, overturning presidential election
  
• John Kerry and other election observers come under harsh criticism
  

****
**** Kenya's Supreme Court issues 'historic' ruling, overturning presidential election
****


Supporters of Raila Odinga celebrate the court ruling (CNN)

Kenya's Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the August 8 re-election of
President Uhuru Kenyatta was invalid, and that a new election must be
held within 60 days. The court found that Kenyatta "was not validly
elected," rendering the result "invalid, null and void." The ruling
was a victory for opposition leader Raila Odinga, who had brought the
case, claiming that the election had been rigged.

The ruling was a complete shock to everyone, including both Kenyatta
supporters and opposition, but no one had expected the court to rule
against Kenyatta. Corruption is so pervasive in African countries,
including Kenya, that normally judges will rule in whatever way the
president pays them to rule, and everyone expected Kenya's Supreme
Court judges to do the same in this case, irrespective of the
evidence.

In fact, the ruling is being called "historic," because it's the first
time that a legal challenge to a presidential election has ever been
successful in the entire history of Africa. Odinga said:

> [indent]<QUOTE>"It’s a very historic day for the people of Kenya and
> by extension the people of Africa. For the first time in history
> of African democratization a ruling has been made by a court
> nullifying irregular elections for the president."<END QUOTE>[/indent]

Kenyatta said:

> [indent]<QUOTE>"I personally disagree with the ruling that has been
> made today but I respect it. Millions of Kenyans made their
> choice but six people [the judges] have decided that they will go
> against the will of the people."<END QUOTE>[/indent]

Supporters of Odinga were ebullient, and celebrated in the streets for
hours. Odinga himself added:

> [indent]<QUOTE>“It is now clear that the entire edifice of the
> (election board) is rotten. Clear evidence shows that the
> commission was taken over by criminals ... they must face criminal
> prosecution. ... We are ready but cannot repeat the election with
> this commission."<END QUOTE>[/indent]

It's thought that the reasons for the court's ruling included the
following:

• The election computer network was a mess. Eight days before
  the election, Chris Msando, who was in charge of IT systems for
  Kenya's electoral commission, went missing eight days before the
  election. His naked body was found three days later with his left
  hand and fingers broken, a swollen injury on his head, and evidence of
  strangulation. Nobody has been arrested for Msando's murder, but many
  people suspect that his murder was part of rigging the election.
  Odinga claimed that the election computer network servers had been
  hacked.
  
  
• The paper tally sheets were a mess. Each district was supposed to
  provide paper tally sheets to support the vote count in that district,
  as it had been transmitted over the election computer network.
  However, at least 20-25% of the tally sheets had disappeared, or did
  not have the appropriate watermark, suggesting that they had been
  fabricated.
  
  
• Odinga claimed that his poll watchers had found different vote
  tallies in some district than had been reported to the electoral
  commission.
  
  
• Odinga had challenged the election results in 2007, and his
  concerns were ignored. This triggered a violent inter-tribal
  bloodbath, between Odinga's Luo tribe and his opponent's Kikuyu tribe,
  killing more than 1,300 people and displacing 600,000, and punctuated
  by numerous atrocities. There has been a lot of nervousness in Kenya
  about a possible repeat of that violence, and it's possible that the
  judges were afraid that if they simply threw out Odinga's case, then
  it would trigger the violence again.

The court will provide detailed reasoning for its decision within 21
days.

The court ruled that a new election must be held within 60 days.
However, an election is enormously expensive, and Kenya is deeply in
debt. Furthermore, after the last election fiasco, it will be hard to
convince people that the next election will be fair. Standard Media (Kenya) and The Nation (Kenya) and Reuters

Related Articles

• Kenya fears violence as opposition refuses to accept presidential election results (14-Aug-2017)
  
  
• Torture and murder of election official raise fears of violence in Kenya (01-Aug-2017)
  
  
• Increasing violence in Kenya revives fears of tribal war (07-Jun-2016)
  
  
• Kenya protests take an increasingly dangerous turn (08-Jun-2016)
  

****
**** John Kerry and other election observers come under harsh criticism
****

After the August 8 election, and Uhuru Kenyatta had been declared a
provisional winner, his opponent Raila Odinga began claiming that the
election had been rigged.

At that point, John Kerry, who had been former president Barack
Obama's Secretary of State, and who had led the Jimmy Carter Center's
election observer mission in Kenya, said:

> [indent]<QUOTE>"Kenya has made a remarkable statement to Africa and
> the world about its democracy and the character of that
> democracy. Don’t let anybody besmirch that."<END QUOTE>[/indent]

Well, now that Kenya's Supreme Court has besmirched it, Kerry and
other election day observers are coming under attack in Kenya.
They're being accused of blindly endorsing the election to produce the
outcome desired by the government, and of completely ignoring the
concerns raised by the opposition.

Muthoni Wanyeki, who served as Amnesty International’s East Africa
Regional Director, supports these accusations against "the election
observer industry," and goes further:

> [indent]<QUOTE>"I feel a real anger about the way they treat us. I’ve
> had diplomats say to my face that, speaking in the light of
> history, this election was an improvement [from past
> elections]. I’m sorry we do not live in history, we live in the
> here and now and we have a right to free and fair elections.
> Their attitude in condescending, neocolonial and by saying that
> things are improving, they’re treating us like small
> children. Hopefully this ruling is like egg on their
> face."<END QUOTE>[/indent]

John Kerry on Friday said then that while there were "little
aberrations here and there," the election was not rigged. France 24 and CNN
and Foreign Policy

Related Articles

• Post-election massacre in Kenya raises concerns of tribal war (02-Jan-2008)
  
  
• Ethnic revenge massacre in Kenya kills 41 (22-Dec-2012)
  
  
• Kenya's herders attack well-known conservationist, stoking tribal tensions (24-Apr-2017)
  
  
• Herders invade ranches in Kenya, ambush and kill British ranch owner (07-Mar-2017)
  

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga,
Chris Msando, John Kerry, Muthoni Wanyeki

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John J. Xenakis
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