Kenyatta supporters stage protests
NAIROBI. - Hundreds of Jubilee supporters held demonstrations outside the Supreme Court in the capital Nairobi, accusing the country’s top court of “stealing their victory”.
The supporters also held demonstrations in Nakuru, Kikuyu, Nyeri and Eldoret towns.
Waving placards, the demonstrators, mostly youths, accused the judges of rendering an illegal judgment.
They said the court should have ordered for a recount of the votes following a petition filed by the Nasa coalition after Uhuru Kenyatta was declared winner of the August 8 election.
In Nakuru, protestors barricaded the Nakuru-Nairobi highway, paralysing transport.
Led by Governor Lee Kinyanjui and Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria, the protestors said they will continue with the protests until President Kenyatta is sworn in.
Gikaria singled out Deputy Chief Justice Mwilu and Justice Lenaona whom he claimed favoured the opposition in the ruling that nullified the August 8 presidential elections.
Protestors in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County threatened to hold protests daily if Justice Mwilu and Justice Lenaola are not sent packing by the Judicial Service Commission.
Jubilee supporters in Nyeri town demanded the Supreme Court to order recount of votes of the presidential elections.
The demonstrations were held as Kenyans await the full judgment of the court today.
It also comes amid petitions filed at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) seeking the removal of judges Philomena Mwilu (Deputy Chief Justice) and Isaac Lenaola.
JSC members were also meeting at the Supreme Court amid the petitions.
The demonstrators had earlier converged at Uhuru Park. They were shouting “Maraga must go” and “Uhuru mpaka 2022”.
Meanwhile, the electronic voting system due to be used in a re-run of Kenya’s presidential poll will not be ready in time, the French biometrics firm behind it said Monday.
OT-Morpho provided Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) with equipment to identify voters biometrically in the August 8 election.
But in a statement, OT-Morpho cautioned that it was unable to deploy the same equipment that was used on August 8. It was leaving the computer system and its data untouched to enable a possible external audit, in the light of the disputed outcome, it said.
“As a consequence, in the scope of the fresh elections, OT-Morpho has to reinstall a fresh new RTS system as well as all 45 000 KIEMS kits,” it said, referring to the computer system for transmitting provisional results and to the laptops used for biometric ID.
“This represents a very significant amount of work, which cannot be secured by October 17th,” the company said, adding it had “previously informed the IEBC of this information”.