New details have emerged indicating Jubilee-affiliated officials used underhand tactics to influence the Supreme Court judges to rule in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to the Standard, one of the judges is said to have been approached by a delegation to compel the court to rule in their favor.
The Judge, however, noted that the bench would make a decision that was best for the country and based on the law.
Similarly, The Nation reported that a Cabinet Secretary and two city lawyers on at least three occasions visited one of the judges’ houses in Nairobi selling what they said was the government’s position.
The judges stayed at a city hide-out hotel with their phones switched off so as not to avoid calls from influencers and operatives of the disputing parties.
Initially, the judges were evenly split on the ruling as two upheld the election with another pair were for nullifying the election. the other two were undecided.
The undecided judges eventually joined either side leading to a 3 to 3 deadlock.
Chief Justice David Maraga and Lady Justice Philomena Mwilu had already decided that the process matters more than the outcome and as such affected the credibility of the elections.
Justice Wanjala's decision to rule in favor of Raila Odinga is reported to have been informed by the level of criticism against the 2013 ruling.
Since Justice Mohammed Ibrahim had been taken ill, the focus by the Jubilee-affiliated officials turned to get Justice Isaac Lenaola to get him to vote in favor of President Kenyatta's win.
Former Law Society of Kenya CEO Apollo Mboya told the Nation that it was Justice Lenaola who titled the decision.
“Had he allowed himself to be influenced, we would have ended up with a tie among the judges which would have meant that the results as declared by IEBC on August 11 stand," stated Mr Mboya.
According to The Standard all the parties were notified about the historic ruling a day before.
“We knew we were done in by Thursday evening. There was no point (of turning up at Supreme Court),” a Jubilee operative who participated in the process and who kept off the court told Sunday Standard.
The minority commenced on writing their dissenting briefs as midnight approached.
A major concern by a majority of the judges was the effect of them not delivering a full judgment the following day.
