Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has reiterated August 8 polls were free, fair and credible.
His reiteration comes a day after the Supreme Court nullified the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kerry headed the Carter Centre, a poll observation mission deployed in Kenya to oversee the August polls that have since been nullified.
In a statement, he said that the Carter Centre was satisfied with how the polls were conducted but had an issue with the transmission of results.
“The Center affirms the observations and conclusions in its August 10 and August 17 statements and notes that the Supreme Court’s ruling is focused on problems that occurred during the transmission of results that impacted its integrity, and not the voting or counting processes,” said Kerry as quoted by the Star.
Two days after the polls, Carter Centre in a statement said transmission of results from 290 constituencies to the National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya was not reliable at all.
“The Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) for the biometric identification of voters functioned well in most polling stations.”
“This served as an effective means to prevent multiple voting and to dispel concerns regarding the voter registry,” read the August 10 statement.
NASA team led by Raila Odinga lashed out at foreign poll observer missions for Okaying the electoral process on August 8.
Raila said they mislead the country that the polls were free and fair while they were marred by electoral malpractice.
Commenting on the Supreme Court ruling, Carter Centre said “the ruling is both important and encouraging, because it highlights the independence of the Kenyan judiciary and its important role as a key institutional pillar in Kenya’s democracy.”
“Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, it is incumbent on all Kenyans to accept the ruling and prepare for fresh elections.”
By Pharis Kinyua. He’s an online Journalist and an author for Jamhuri News