Three Jubilee Arguments that don’t make any sense

If there is anything Jubilee never saw coming is the annulment of August 8th 2017 Presidential Election. As evidence that the annulment caught them off guard, the party’s Presidential Candidate and temporal President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta started threatening the Judges that voted for the invalidation of the  the election. Not only that, but since September 1 when the Court verdict was read there have arisen some three Jubilee arguments that are completely senseless, senseless arguments designed to show how the Supreme Court erred in its verdict.

The three Jubilee arguments include the argument that Jubilee numbers were not questioned, argument that NASA in collaboration with some IEBC staff planted evidence that would help NASA win the petition, and the argument that NASA does not have problems with the other elective offices namely the office of the Governor, the office of the Senator, the office of Women Representative, the office of Member of Parliament, and the office of Member of County Assembly, yet NASA members electected during the August 8th General Elections were also elected through the nullified IEBC elections process. 

1st of Jubilee Arguments: NASA did not question the numbers Jubilee got in August 8th Elections

If you did not follow the court proceedings during NASA Petition, you may actually believe this Jubilee argument. The argument is actually two fold, that NASA did not question that Uhuru got some 8.2 million votes, and that the Court did not show that the 1.4 million votes Uhuru beat Raila Odinga with could be done away with.

The Supreme Court verdict was based on two important parameters, that the process through which IEBC conducted the elections was irregular, and that the same IEBC committed illegalities (crimes) when conducting the August 8th Elections. By irregular, the Court meant that the rules, procedures and regulations set up by the law and IEBC’s own “abundance of caution” were not followed. By not following the rules, procedures and regulations meant to ensure that the August 8th Elections were credible, accountable, transparent, and verifiable, it meant that results obtained cannot be unquestioned. By illegal, the Court meant that Constitutional Provisions and the Laws of the land governing Elections were willfully broken.

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Let me give an obvious example. Assume you are a Masters or PhD student tasked with conducting a Project for your Thesis. This Project will involve data collection, analysis and data interpretation. Let us assume you have in several tables tabulated figures to show that you have collected some data. Now assume that in your methodology you haven’t demonstrated clearly how you collected that data and that it is obvious your data was collected via fraudulent means. Would you blame the examination panel for invalidating, annulling and voiding your figures? Since your methodology was not trustworthy, whatever figures you may have tabulated become invalid, null and void. It doesn’t matter whether or not those figures could have been accurate.

Although an irregular and illegal electoral process would immediately invalidate, annul and void any results obtained through that process, NASA went ahead to specifically question a number of results from several polling stations and constituencies that were reported irregularly. They were figures on forms 34A and forms 34B that did not match results transmitted through electronic means, and those that were reported in non-authentic statutory documents.

Basically therefore, the Jubilee argument that NASA did not question the figures they got in August 8th Elections doesn’t make any sense at all.

2nd of Jubilee Arguments: NASA in collaboration with a number of IEBC staff planted evidence that NASA would later use in the Supreme Court Petition

This is the most baffling argument I have heard from Jubilee fraternity. This argument particularly became prominent when Jubilee wrote to IEBC demanding that certain names not to be included in a new Project team that Chebukati had put in place to oversee the fresh Presidential Election. In explaining to the public why they did not want those names to be part of the special Project team, Jubilee alluded to the possibility that those individuals worked with NASA to sabotage the August 8th Presidential results. 

Jubilee for instance questioned why certain names who had refused to sign statutory forms 34B had been included in the Projects team, and why Marjan Hussein Marjan, the individual who was charged with receiving the documents but did not care to verify that the documents were properly signed, had been named the Project Coordinator.

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Jubilee has the right to question competency of any individual to handle any task at any public institution, but to insinuate that the individuals they had issues with are individuals who helped NASA implant evidence is rather senseless. Why for instance would NASA plant electoral malpractice evidence in a manner suggested by Jubilee but fail to inflate figures in favor of Raila Odinga?

Again, why would NASA concentrate on planting electoral malpractice evidence with a view of presenting those evidence in Court knowing fully well that they stood a very slim chance of winning the case? In history of the world, there were only 3 Presidential elections that had been nullified up to the point when NASA was filing its petition, with Africa annulling none. So in Africa context, NASA had zero chance of having its petition go through, and still close to zero even when the world context was considered. In Kenya, all Presidential Election Petition had not gone anywhere near hearing, but when it did in 2013, the Petition was listened to but finally thrown out.

It is there foolhardy for anyone to go about using IEBC officials to implant evidence that may not ultimately be of help, instead of using the same officials to give you a winning chance in terms of inflated numbers.

3rd of Jubilee Arguments: NASA has no problems with the other elective seats

This is another of Jubilee arguments that is twofold, that the court did not annul the other elections, and that NASA elected officials who benefited from the same electoral process are not resigning.

On Supreme Court not annulling the elections of Governors, Senators, Women Representatives, Members of Parliament and Members of County Assemblies, the answer is clear, Supreme Court doesn’t deal with those elective seats unless they receive an appeal from court of appeal. For example a Member of Parliament who thinks that the elections were not free and fair is required to file his/her petition at any of the high courts across the county. The appeals against the high court ruling may however go all the way up to the Supreme Court. Again, the Presidential Election Petition is filed only at the Supreme Court and once filed the Supreme Court will deal with that Presidential Election Petition alone – and determine it within 14 days of filing. The determination of Presidential Election Petition can however influence the types of determinations the magistrate courts, high courts and court of appeal can make in the other petitions.

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On NASA elected officials not resigning if elections were not free and fair, it is important to note that the types of irregularities and illegalities pointed out at Supreme Court only dealt with irregularities and illegalities that had affected the Presidential Election. For example the forms that had problems were forms 34A and forms 34B, forms that only tabulate results of Presidential Election. It is also important to state that since different elective seats have different ballot papers, different ballot boxes, and different statutory forms, irregularities in one election may not necessarily affect another election. For example ballot papers may be stuffed for Presidential Election, but not for Member of County Assembly.

NASA has also acknowledged that there is a possibility that a number of elective seats were affected, and consequently the coalition has filed many petitions across the country to challenge those elections. Jubilee leaning politician Martha Karua has also used NASA’s argument to file her own petition against the election of Anne Waiguru as Kirinyaga Governor. 

Conclusion

These senseless Jubilee arguments may not make any sense to you, but the fact that Jubilee continue to use them over and again at Prime time shows and in political rallies shows just how many Kenyans are gullible. I have actually come across them on social media when Jubilee proponents ask why the Supreme Court did not annul the elections of Governors, or MPs, etc.

Odipo Riaga
Managing Editor at KachTech Media
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