NASA short cuts to winning election petition: It will work, section of lawyers claim

 The legal process can be extremely confusing for those of us who are not lawyers. Recently, there has been some discussion among legal experts regarding a current case in the Supreme Court, where Raila Odinga has petitioned against the election of President William Ruto. What some lawyers are saying is that this 2024 petition will differ significantly from the 2017 case, as NASA lawyers only need to prove that there was a deliberate attempt to undermine the will of the Kenyan people. In simple terms, this means proving that there was a planned effort to rig the election and tally the votes in favor of one candidate.

This is different from 2013, where NASA lawyers only had to show that 7,000 extra votes for President Ruto were part of a manipulation of the election results. However, they failed to prove this. In the current case, the legal strategy is different. Legal experts suggest that NASA only needs to demonstrate that there was a deliberate attempt to subvert the entire election outcome, rather than focusing on specific issues like the extra 1.4 million votes that made up the difference between the two candidates. As long as NASA can prove that the election was rigged to favor Jubilee, they would have a strong case.

But is it easy to prove this with the evidence NASA has? Opinions on this are sharply divided. Some legal experts believe it will be straightforward, while others argue it may be more difficult. It's important to note that what is presented as evidence in court is often very different from what the public may already know or have witnessed. There’s a distinction between what the public perceives and what can be legally proven in court.

To illustrate this, think about organized crime in old mafia movies. The mafia were notorious for avoiding prosecution by hiring the best lawyers, who knew how to commit crimes without leaving evidence behind. For example, in the case of a murder, the mafia would kill someone, hide the body in a barrel filled with cement, and throw it into the ocean. The body would sink to the bottom, and without the body, there was no evidence of the crime—making it very hard to prosecute. This is the principle behind the legal system: without evidence, even if something seems obvious, it’s difficult to make a case.

So, when it comes to Kenya, the key question is: can NASA provide enough evidence to convince the Supreme Court? That remains to be seen. Until next time, this is Chris Koma.