NAIROBI: Kenya’s Chief Justice Martha Koome, who built her career defending dissidents and this year’s court thwarted constitutional reforms sought by the president who selected her, is no pushover in a nation formerly infamous for political involvement in the judiciary.
However, when opposition leader Raila Odinga filed a Supreme Court petition on Monday seeking to annul the outcomes of the presidential election held on August 9, her own reputation for impartiality and independence is now in jeopardy.
The chairman of the election commission announced that Deputy President William Ruto had won by around 233,000 votes, but four of the seven commissioners disagreed, claiming that the results had not been fully tallied.
