It is slowly being revealed that thousands of forms were not signed by each party’s agents as a hard copy back-up to the electronic transmission and that many forms lacked official stamp and signatures- and that was enough to convince Maraga.
If this is the only holding that convinced the Chief Justice to annul the entire election, then the judge and the whole country was played by the opposition. And here is why, in my opinion.
The agents who didn’t sign – Why didn’t they?
Since their duty was to observe and sign, then they failed in their duty and responsibility. If they couldn’t sign because something was wrong and didn’t therefore sign in protest- Why didn’t they make a note as to why they couldn’t sign. Why didn’t they alert any officials or Western election monitors or call press immediately after the exercise and say why they couldn’t sign.
Those who were supposed to stamp the forms, why didn’t they? The court must not only say that the forms were not signed but, must also through demonstrable evidence adduced during the court proceedings show why those agents never signed or at least what the court interpreted as the compelling and convincing reason why they never signed.
If the court vacates any substantiation as to the intent of the agents that resulted in their dereliction of duty, then it leaves the door open for speculation that the opposition planted those agents, paid them off, bribed them or coerced them into absconding their duties and therefore cause irregularities, abuse of process and illegalities that Maraga would eventually snatch to use in his annulment- And if you find my reasoning crazy, tell me why the agents never signed / stamped the forms.
Even if we accept that thousands of forms were not signed/stamped, was that enough to annual the entire election results and cast the entire nation into a crisis? Please note, thousands not millions.
Under normal court business, the court owes the entire nation a duty not only to mouth a verdict but ultimately to balance the weight and veracity of the evidence adduced in court against the reality of the moment and the country. Court must find that the evidence presented is so compelling, and not minute; such that once applied, the election results could not stand. In a word, did the agents absconding of their duty amount into an overwhelming injustice enough to obliterate Uhuru’s lead of 1.4 million votes.
The question is: Were the agents’ refusal to do their jobs, one and the same as election irregularities- or was it merely an individual deliberately, willingly, and knowingly absconding his /her responsibilities for whatever reason?
Country in Crisis
More than Shillings 10 billion must now be spent on an election re-run. Wanainchi themselves will spend into thousands individually; sparing a day to register to vote, spending a day out voting, commuting expenses to go out to vote- breakfast, lunch not to mention the millions of man hours that will be lost. I submit that billions and billions of Shillings is the cost we must face as a nation because Maraga imagines a perfect election exercise the likes of which even the Western developed nations have never enjoyed. As PLO Lumumba Esq. said “on small things, law has no answer” I am afraid, merely based on
small things we have become a laughing stalk in the rest of the world for using judicial power as a matter of personal taste. In my opinion, the ruling was both reckless and abuse of judicial power. As an old maxim states, “If you break it, you own it”. Maraga should now ready himself; more than one hundred sixteen (116) election petition cases are now in front of the court and all petitioners have one thing in common- ready, able, and willing to drink their cup of Maraga’s form of justice- if you allege and throw tantrums-I appease you and embrace you, regardless of real and actual admissible and demonstrable evidence adduced in court, Notwithstanding.
By Njoroge Njau Njembura | wamwororo@gmail.com
