BY SAM ALFAN.
President-elect William Ruto has urged Supreme Court to dismiss a petition filed Raila Odinga challenging his win in the just concluded general election.
Ruto wants orders sought by Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua dismissed saying some orders sought might plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.
He says declaring the presidential election a nullity because of a fall out among the commissioners of the electoral body would set a dangerous precedent that would create constitutional crisis by encouraging members of the commission to disown election results whenever their preferred candidate loses.
The Deputy President has named a team of 54 lawyers in his defence. The team to be led by senior counsel Fred Ngatia also comprises Kioko Kilukumi, Kiragu Kimani, Prof Kithure Kindiki, Hillary Sigei and Katwa Kigen.
Ruto has further has said an order seeking to declare IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati unfit to hold public office for alleged breached of authority of his office should be seen from a prism of a sore loser who always seeks to change of referee and the end of every match.
He adds that he has formed an impression that the petition and surrogate petitions are filed in concert as part of Raila’s “shock and awe” strategy.
“Shock and awe is a popular strategy among units of united states’ military forces borrowed from the writing of sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist; whose epicenter is merely to overwhelm an adversary by noise and spectacular display of might , when in reality that noise have a corresponding striking ability,” he said. .
He said Raila Odinga’s “shock and awe” strategy and “story full of sound and fury, signifying nothing ” should not hoodwink this court to nullifying the election.
“Not again! The time has come for the supreme court and all Kenyans of goodwill to tell Raila Odinga that lightening does not strike the same spot twice and the sovereign will of Kenyan voters should not be silenced merely to quench thirty year thirst for power,” says DP Ruto.
Ruto has further told supreme court that petitioners have produced falsified logs in support of their claims on alleged external IP address forms and the alleged hacking or infiltration of IEBC system.
He adds that the petitions are subterfuge for Raila’s perennial strategem of fomenting a constitution crisis as a means of forcing the winner of a presidential election to enter into yet another “handshake” government.
