Kenya’s president calls ‘coup’ Supreme Court ruling on election

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has repeated his criticism of the country’s Supreme Court regarding a ruling to annul the results of the August 8 presidential election, saying the decision amounted to a coup against the will of people in the country.

According to reports, Kenyatta said in a live, televised speech on Thursday that he would respect the Supreme Court’s September 1 ruling, which invalidated some 1.4 million votes he gained in the race against opposition leader Raila Odinga, adding ,however, that the decision was against the will of the Kenyan people.

“A coup in Kenya has just been done by the four people in the Supreme Court,” said Kenyatta, adding, “We have reversed everything in this country by the decision of a few people. I don’t know how history will judge these gentlemen.”

The Kenyan president criticized the court for emphasizing the processes in the elections that were deemed flawed rather than taking into account the number of votes that secured his victory.

“The citizen has been told he does not have a voice ... If that is not dictatorship, then I don’t know what to say,” Kenyatta said.

Kenyatta won a second term by a low margin in last month’s election.

The Supreme Court said in a detailed ruling on Wednesday that Kenya’s election board had failed to corroborate the electronic tallies of the votes against paper forms to eliminate potential typos before announcing the final results of the election. The ruling did not hint at any evidence of rigging in favor of Kenyatta.

SS