Kenyans had been waiting for almost a month for the result of their presidential election to be confirmed, in a tense atmosphere. Today, the country’s highest court rejected all appeals about the election results. The feared political violence has so far been avoided in Kenya.
Today, Monday, Kenyans watched in tension as the country’s Supreme Court handed down its verdict on appeals against the presidential election. The court overruled the losing presidential candidate one by one Raila Odinga77, all allegations of election fraud.
The Supreme Court decision restarted William Ruton, 55, supporters party across Kenya. In Kenya’s order, the fifth president will be sworn in on Tuesday next week.
Ruto is a devout Christian, and in his first tweet after the court decision, he thanked God for his success, quoting the Gospel of Mark:
– It is impossible for people, but not for God, because everything is possible for God.
Raila Odinga, who lost the election by a margin of only about one and a half percent, was running for president of Kenya for the fifth time.
For 77-year-old Odinga, this was his last chance to become Kenya’s leader. After the election, he has used very harsh language about his opponent and even today he did not congratulate William Ruto. But in his tweet, he promised to be satisfied with the Supreme Court’s decision, even though he “strongly disagrees” with it.
– Our lawyers produced irrefutable evidence and the facts were on our side. We find it inconceivable that the judges rejected all nine of our arguments and used unreasonable language in doing so,” Odinga said in a written statement.
The language used by the Supreme Court was harsh, but for many reasons. The court went through the arguments of Odinga’s legal team one by one and found that the appellants failed to provide credible evidence for any of them.
The president of the court Martha Koomen several of Odinga’s claims were not justified, but “deliberate attempts at deception”.
“The most important thing is that we get ahead in life”
On the streets of Nairobi, the Supreme Court verdict was met mostly with relief. The country has been in a semi-state of emergency since the elections held on August 9. People have stayed at home in fear of political violence, and economic activity has slowed down.
– It doesn’t matter who won these elections, the most important thing is that we get ahead in life. I have to pay the rent, buy food, pay the children’s school fees, says the electronics dealer interviewed by The Standard magazine Gilbert Odera.
According to domestic and foreign election observers, the current elections in Kenya were quite successful.
The electoral commission IEBC’s stroke of genius was to deposit the results of all over 46,000 polling stations immediately after election night as pdf files on a public website. From there, the data could be checked by anyone and the votes could be added up.
Several Kenyan and international media and non-governmental organizations did their own calculations, and their result is unanimous: Willian Ruto won the election, narrowly but clearly.
What kind of president will Kenya get?
William Ruto’s victory can be seen as a step forward or a setback, depending on the point of view.
What was new was that Ruto’s campaign was able to cross the borders of Kenya’s different tribes. Ruto focused on talking to poor Kenyans, hustlers struggling to make ends meet in the informal economy, successful people.
William Ruto’s goal is to make the actors of the country’s extensive street economy part of the official economy. He proposes light taxes and a simple bureaucracy that would encourage people trading informally to register their businesses.
This is how Ruto hopes to make the country’s economy grow, from the bottom up.
Autocrat’s apprentice
William Ruto is a hard worker, has a strong personality and is a charismatic performer. But many ask whether he is also a truly democratic ruler.
The point of comparison is Raila Odinga, who lost the election, and is widely respected by Kenyans as a defender of democracy.
The second president of Kenya’s independence, an autocrat Daniel arap Hi jailed Odinga twice. However, this continued his political work and has been an important actor in, among other things, the establishment of the multi-party system and the formulation of the new constitution.
On the other hand, Willian Ruto, who won the election, was Daniel Arap Moi’s favorite at the beginning of his political career. The question is whether the newly elected president, like Moi, is inclined towards autocratic leadership.
Ruto has the potential to centralize power, as his Kenya Kwanza coalition also has a majority in the Kenyan parliament.
Russia was among the first to congratulate
When Ruto was announced as the new president two weeks ago, the EU and other Western countries remained on the waiting list. No direct congratulations were given to the winner, but we waited for the outcome of the legal process.
Russia was among the first to congratulate Ruto, and congratulations also came from many autocratic leaders of African countries.
Kenya is an economic powerhouse in East Africa and has traditionally had a positive attitude towards Western partners. After the decision of the Supreme Court, William Ruto will certainly receive warm congratulations from European leaders as well.
The coming months and years will show how deeply Ruto’s Kenya shares Western values: democracy, open governance, human rights, the defense of biodiversity and the fight against climate change.