President Uhuru’s statement: Thursday, September 21, 2017
On 8th August 2017, millions of Kenyans turned out throughout the country to vote in a most peaceful manner. Thereafter, the votes were counted, tallied and publicly announced at all polling stations and constituency tallying centres as required by law. On 11th August I was declared winner by a very significant margin.
On 18th August, a petition was filed at the Supreme Court to challenge my election victory.
The Supreme Court nullified the presidential election on 1st September on the basis of alleged irregularities and illegalities in the transmission of results. The Supreme Court stated that due to time constraint, they had not perused the tonnes of documents that had been filed, but promised to give a detailed judgement in 21 days. How a decision of that magnitude was made without examination of some of the most crucial documents is, indeed, incredibly startling.
Kenyans waited patiently, with great anxiety and anticipation for the reasons for the nullification of the Presidential election.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court delivered the reasons for the nullification of the presidential election in a historic and split decision that lasted for 12 straight hours. I take note that the decision confirmed the following:
That voting, counting and tallying of the election results was done in accordance with the law.
That the number of votes cast, as announced by IEBC, was never disputed,
That the number of votes I, as a candidate, obtained were not contested.
And that my Government and I were exonerated from any irregularities or illegalities.
Fellow Kenyans,
The Presidential Election result was nullified on the assumption that there were irregularities in the election results forms. It is now manifestly clear that despite the fact that the relevant forms had already been deposited in Court by the IEBC, no proper scrutiny or verification ever took place, which would otherwise have brought the court to the inescapable conclusion that the election result of August 8 was valid.
As a consequence, I hold our steadfast position that the will of the people was subverted by the Court.
The Supreme Court owes Kenyans an explanation on how such a monstrous injustice could have taken place.
Not only did the judgement rob the Kenyan people of their democratic right as exercised on Aug 8, but it also now has the potential to throw our country into judicial chaos.
The effect and precedent set in that singular judgement says that a bench can nullify the decision of millions of Kenyans without due regard to evidence. This position is diametrically opposed to the sovereign right our people have to elect leaders of their choice as enshrined in our Constitution.
Fellow Kenyans,
As I have said before, I shall comply with the judgement. However, I state categorically that the Constitutional right of Kenyans to elect leaders of their choice is not negotiable.
At the heart of the dispute is a simple point of principle. The purpose of an election in any democratic country is to determine the will of the people, in whom all sovereignty resides.
Fellow Kenyans,
In the Court ruling of Sept. 1 2017, which was reiterated yesterday, the Court ordered the IEBC to conduct a fresh election in strict conformity with the Constitution and the applicable election laws and to do so within the 60 days.
We all acknowledge that the people of Kenya now have another chance to be heard again.
There shall and MUST be an election within that constitutionally stipulated period.
Cabinet this morning approved a Supplementary Budget that shall be forwarded to the National Assembly on Tuesday next week, in which we set aside resources for the conduct of the fresh election.
Thus, the IEBC, in keeping with its mandate, must, without any further delay, undertake the fresh election. Kenyans expect nothing more and nothing less from them.
Fellow Kenyans,
The judgment has also created uncertainties and raised matters that require legislative attention.
I have therefore requested the Parliament should expeditiously address itself to the issues raised in order to protect our country from any ambiguities and or that may arise from this judgment.
Fellow Kenyans
Having reversed the judicial precedent of elections management in this country, we are left as a people with the following questions.
One. Is the people’s choice in the ballot sufficient to elect leaders of their choice as provided for in our Constitution or does it in future require a qualitative endorsement by a judge?
Two. Now that the Supreme Court has taken the narrow view that a Presidential election can be overturned without reference to numbers, what becomes of the Constitutional provisions that provide that Presidential elections, and for that matter, all elections are determined in a democratic society such as Kenya by numbers?
Three. It is now clear that had the court verified documents and forms in its possession, supplied by the IEBC, the so-called unstamped, unsigned and unserialised forms upon which the presidential election was nullified would have been proven to be falsified. What then happens to this judgment made on the basis of falsified documents?
These fellow Kenyans are important questions that all of us as a people must address himself or herself to in the fullness of time.
Fellow Kenyans,
I want to once again affirm that as a country we have a clear constitutional path forward.
I take this opportunity to assure Kenyans, from all walks of life, as well as our regional and international partners, that our country remains secure and stable. We should therefore go on with the business of building our nation.
I have instructed all our security agencies to ensure that they remain firmly on the alert and focused on providing security to all Kenyans and their property, which is a cardinal constitutional responsibility of any government.
To our 1.6 million children who have worked hard in preparation for their upcoming final examinations, I wish to take this opportunity to assure you that arrangements are in place to ensure that your exams are not disrupted by this turn of events. I ask you all to remain focused on your exams and we, as parents, are praying and wishing you every success.
Finally, I would like to state clearly that the government will do everything under the law to facilitate the IEBC to conduct another free, fair and credible election in accordance with the ruling of the Supreme Court, an election that will once again enable the people of Kenya to exercise their democratic right of choice.
Let me close by saying this: Each one of us, especially we leaders, must ensure that even as we enter this new competition, we have a responsibility to ensure that the peace and stability that will deliver to all Kenyans the promise of shared prosperity that we as a people desire.
For our part as Jubilee, we now go back to our people with our vision of unity and transformation agenda that will guarantee a free, equitable, stable, inclusive and prosperous nation.
The people of Kenya will speak again, and this time, their voice will, and MUST be heard.
Thank you.
God Bless Kenya.