Kenya's police seals off Supreme Court

Kenya's Judiciary said on Saturday the much-awaited election petition ruling by the Supreme Court challenging the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the fourth president of Kenya will be delivered before 5 p.m. local time (1400GMT).The move comes after the police have sealed off the Supreme Court building and sections of the major roads within Nairobi have been barricaded by police on horseback as the country awaits the court verdict.Chief Registry Gladys Shollei told a news conference in Nairobi the six-judge bench will decide if Kenya will hold another presidential poll or if Kenyatta will remain the winner of the contest as announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission this afternoon."The Judiciary wishes to announce that we expect the judgment to be delivered later this afternoon, but in any case not later than 5.00 pm. In any event, we undertake to formally alert the media and the public on the exact time one hour in advance. I thank you all for your patience and understanding," Shollei told journalists on Saturday.She said the choice Kenyans and their leadership have made to arbitrate such a difficult dispute in the courts of law in an environment that upholds people's civil liberties is a testament to the country's flourishing democracy, which she said Kenyans must be prepared to continue to uphold and protect.The chief registrar said the Judiciary especially the Supreme Court judges have had a very busy week during which the Supreme Court has held unprecedented hearings that were televised live throughout the period."The court sat as early as 9 o'clock (0600GMT) and once rose well past half past 9 o'clock (1800GMT) in the night. The court similarly convened and sat on Good Friday for an hour to hear submissions on a scrutiny of documents it had earlier ordered," Shollei said.Political analysts say the landmine ruling by the Supreme Court will be the first of its kind in Kenya and East Africa.Although it is not the first presidential election petition to be filed in the country, it is the first presidential election petition to be heard and determined before the President elect is sworn in.Among the issues the six Supreme Court judges will be looking into when writing their judgment include whether the presidential election was free, fair and credible and whether Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were validly elected among other critical issues.The development comes as the police said they will not allow unauthorized persons near the court where the ruling will be made.Regional police commander Benson Kibui said the Supreme Court building has been cordoned off to ensure that the activities of the court are not disrupted."We have completely cordoned off the Supreme Court and its premises. We don't want people to come around as we saw the other day of filing the petition. Security is tight around here but anybody doing business will not be prevented," Kibui told Xinhua by telephone on Saturday.He said so far there were not ugly incidents which have been reported in Nairobi and its environs, noting that businesses have opened and people were going about their activities peacefully and as usual."The heavy police presence in the city is purely to monitor the activities of people and to ensure peace prevails. No body will be harassed or prevented from going about their activities in Nairobi. We only want to ensure that the activities of the Supreme Court are not disrupted by people who congregate around the court building," he said.Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding president, Jomo Kenyatta, won the presidential poll this month with 50.07 percent of the vote which was conducted by the IEBC on March 4.His main rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, got 43.31 percent of the vote, and challenged the outcome in court, saying it was flawed and marred by technical problems.Trouble started after the voter tallying electronic system used by Kenya's electoral body failed prompting return to use of manual systems. The ruling will determine whether Kenyatta's win will be upheld or a new vote conducted.Shollei thanked Kenyans, security personnel, court officials and journalists for their patience in the petition process. She said the petition has been taxing on the judges because they have been sitting as early as 9am and late into the night.Since the last sitting yesterday (Friday) at 11 am, the judges of the Supreme Court have retreated to deliberate on the evidence and write their judgment. As you are aware, the 14 days within which the Supreme Court must render a decision on the consolidated presidential election petition end today," she said.The chief registrar said the six judges of the Supreme Court have had to work under extremely constrained time lines to meet the requirements of the Constitution.In his final remarks before the adjournment of the court session on Friday, Chief Justice (CJ) Willy Mutunga praised lawyers for the petitioners and respondents should be on call since they "will be summoned on short notice once the ruling is ready"."We now proceed to go and start writing our judgment and we meet here tomorrow (Saturday)," said the CJ.The CJ adjourned the court on Friday after a one-hour session of hearing submissions of lawyers reviewing results of re-tallying of votes from 22 constituencies.The re-tallying was part of the court's order following a petition by Odinga, who claimed he lost the presidential election unfairly to Kenyatta. In his petition, Odinga wants the judges to quash the declaration of Kenyatta as the president-elect and order a fresh presidential election.Political pundits say whatever happens after Saturday's judgment will go a long way in restoring the nation's image as a bastion of stability in the region after disputed election results led to bloody chaos in 2007.If the court rules in favour of Kenyatta, he will be sworn in as Kenya's fourth president on April 9 but in case a re-run it will be done within 60 days after the ruling.