A New York Times article on Kenya’s election system and the Supreme Court election petitions has sparked mixed reactions across the country.
The article dated September 2 described the electoral process in Kenya as a two-stage process, where the electorate votes before the Supreme Court makes the final decision.
In Kenyan Elections, the People Decide First. Then Come the Judges, the headline reads.
The article, despite noting that Kenya’s election system is among the best in the world based on the measures taken to make the process transparent and simple, did not fall short of stating how the country spent a fortune on technology that was still contested in court.
According to the article, the display of all Forms 34A on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) portal made the election process transparent with its standards exceeding those of European nations.
However, the article states, the election results were not satisfactory to all since they were challenged by Raila Odinga at the Supreme Court.
Raila was stated to have presented both plausible and outlandish grounds as evidence to oppose William Ruto’s win.
This article has since become the subject of a heated discussion with politicians and other Kenyans alike weighing in on the angle of the article.
Former Roots Party presidential running mate Justina Wamae stated that the Supreme Court case is an opportunity for IEBC to improve on the weaknesses and defects exposed in the course of the petition.
“IEBC should see the silver lining - monitoring and evaluation - to improve current and future management of future elections,” she stated.
Other tweeps, however, urged the international media house to focus on the electoral challenges in the United States whilst striving to expose defects in Kenya's system.
"In Kenyan elections, the people decide and then the Supreme Court Judges address all the concerns. In so doing, the election body, IEBC, becomes more transparent unlike in the USA where there is no accountability no matter the concerns," one Sam Nato argued.
"From where some of us sit, the US elections are more transparent than ours and yet still you have raids and the Jan 6th probe ongoing, several warrants of arrest out with Russian hacking conspiracy theories to boot Do you see that too?" another user hit back.
International media have extensively covered the Kenyan election process since its onset. Notably, Reuters and BBC conducted a parallel tally of the results provided by IEBC through its portal.
The Supreme Court will issue its final verdict on Monday, September 5.
