Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party intends to file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the election of Deputy President William Ruto as Kenya’s President-elect in 2022.
Kenya Kwanza’s William Ruto defeated Azimio la Umoja’s former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the hotly contested race to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, despite divisions within the electoral body.
Uhuru Kenyatta is the chairman of the Azimio la Umoja team and was instrumental in Raila Odinga’s election to the presidency.
Azimio’s decision to petition the Presidential election results has prompted all parties involved in the petition to seek popular and top-tier legal counsel.
Two former Attorney Generals have been caught in the crossfire and will now face off in the Supreme Court, one seeking to uphold Ruto’s victory and the other seeking to overturn it.
Former Attorney General Amos Wako will be part of the Azimio legal team attempting to overturn the recently announced Presidential election results.
His successor, Githu Muigai, has been nominated to join the Electoral Body’s legal team and will be on the other side defending IEBC.
Wako will be leading a team comprising, among others, senior counsels Pheroze Nowrojee, Phillip Murgor, and James Orengo, who intends to table a damning audit report that warned of rogue Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) employees who had unfettered login credentials to single-handedly manipulate the voters’ register, including having the powers to transfer polling stations without any oversight.
The audit report by consulting firm KPMG, which was submitted to IEBC top brass less than a week to the publication of the final voter register that was used in the just concluded elections, also captured cases of hundreds of thousands of voters who were either double-registered, were registered using expired passports or fictitious ID card numbers.
The drafting of the petition by lawyers assembled by Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya coalition party is at an advanced stage to be filed by tomorrow’s Supreme Court-imposed 2 pm deadline.
Supporting the senior counsels that Mr Odinga has assembled will be equally seasoned legal minds, including Prof Tom Ojienda, Daniel Maanzo, Otiende Amollo and Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.
While Amos Wako will seek to have Ruto’s victory overturned, his successor, Githu Muigai, will seek to have the same victory upheld.
On the other hand, Mr. Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance is said to have put together a team that will be led by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s former lawyer Fred Ngatia and Ahmednasir Abdullahi—both senior counsels.
Other lawyers in the team include Adrian Kamotho, Elias Mutuma, Collins Kiprono and Emmanuel Kibet.
The battle between the two former chief legal advisors of the government could make the eagerly awaited Presidential election petition proceeding a very interesting one.
