General News of Monday, 4 September 2017

Source: mynewsgh.com

Kenya’s Supreme Court verdict exposed masterminds of my deportation - Mac Manu

Peter Mac-Manu, 2016 Campaign Manager of NPP Peter Mac-Manu, 2016 Campaign Manager of NPP

The 2016 Campaign Manager of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peter Mac-Manu is happy following the outcome of a Supreme Court verdict which last Friday August 1, 2017 annulled the presidential elections in Kenya calling for a rerun within 60 days.

The Former NPP National Chairman who was leading a team of Democratic Union (IDU) of Africa International Observers to Kenya’s General Elections on August 8, was refused entry into that country together with two others.

He was subsequently deported back to Ghana and refused to comment on the matter until last Friday when a petition pending before the apex court of Kenya was ruled on calling for fresh elections.

According to him, he has always maintained that there were unseen hands that masterminded his deportation for parochial interest though he will not mention names.

Peter Mac-Manu however stated that his presence in the country was neither to rig an election nor work in the interest of one party against the other indicating that the outcome of the court’s ruling further exposes those behind his deportation.

‘I think the Supreme Court has spoken and at this point I can only be happy about the decision of the court. I think it is unprecedented and therefore should be obeyed by all” he said.

A six-judge bench, by majority decision, found that the electoral commission failed to conduct the polls according to the Constitution and Elections Act.

“Elections is not an event but a process. After considering the totality of the entire evidence, we are satisfied that the elections were not conducted in accordance to the dictates of the Constitution and the applicable principles,” Chief justice David Maraga said.

“That President Uhuru Kenyatta was not validly elected on August 8.”

Judges Ojwang and Njoki Ndung’u dissented while Judge Mohammed Ibrahim, who fell ill on the second day of the case hearing, did not take part in the decision because he is still in hospital.

The top court in Kenya, in a bold move, ordered the IEBC to conduct a fresh presidential election within strict confines of the law within 60 days.

Lawyers who represented President Kenyatta and the IEBC protested the judgment and sought explanations and clarifications from the judges.