The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition deputy leader Martha Karua has moved to the East African Court of Justice and filed a petition against the Supreme Court’s decision that upheld President William Ruto’s victory in the August presidential election.
Karua and activist Khelef Khalifa who had initially filed separate petitions but were later joined into one filed the petition on Thursday at the court’s registry in Arusha, Tanzania just a few hours before the expiry of the two-month window allowed by the court.
In their petition argued that through their actions, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the Supreme Court subverted democracy and undermined the law.
They also accused IEBC of failure to manage properly the August general elections and allowing unauthorised persons to access and manipulate the election outcome.
In their petition, the duo claimed also failed to maintain a clean and accurate register which did not capture eligible voters.
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Karua and Khalifa also said IEBC brushed off complaints and did not investigate questions raised about the electoral process and was dysfunctional.
They also accused the Supreme court of frustrating their attempts to access justice by not according to them a fair hearing when the presidential election petition was filed at the court.
According to Karua and Khalifa, the Supreme Court refused to compel the electoral body to supply all the information required to vindicate their claims and also refused to examine all the evidence presented before it.
The duo accused the Apex Court of not digging deeper into the technology applied by the electoral commission during the process.
They also said the Apex Court encouraged the IEBC’s facade when he refused to grant access to its technology, which was critical to determining the matter fairly and disregarding its own orders.
The duo has also accused the court’s registrar of neglecting/refusing to render a true and comprehensive account of the results of the limited scrutiny that had been allowed.
Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, Karua made known her intentions to appeal the court's ruling at the East African Court of Justice.
“Now is not about the election, it's about justice, the court said our evidence was a hot air balloon, this, can take me to East Africa just to discuss that judgement,” Karua said.
“But since the court gave its verdict, let Kenya continue and move forward, that is the rule of law and democracy."