PLO Lumumba Lights Up Supreme Court with a 'Lively' Submission

Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba on Monday night concluded the defence of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries (IEBC) with a flourish, charged and on a high note, earning the recognition of Chief Justice David Maraga.

The Chief Justice told the well-known orator, “Mr Lumumba, you were clear,” to which Prof Lumumba responded, “May the Lord bless you.”

Prof Lumumba left his colleagues in the bar alert and the gallery alive as he poked holes on the case laid out by the legal team representing Raila Odinga in the case seeking to nillify President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory on August 8th elections.

Known well for his oration skill and the use of "big" English words, his submission was not short of what he is synonymous with.

“The pleadings before you suffer from lack of focus and particularity.” PLO started in his submission.

The former anti-corruption watchdog director characterised the affidavits sworn by Raila Odinga and his team as full of hearsay and the case was premised on stilts “that must collapse under the weight of evidence.”

Prof Lumumba also rubbished the formula tabled to the court by Raila's lawyer Otiende Amollo as Pythagoras Theorem and said no election is decided on the basis of such a formula.

He further attempted to deconstruct the assertions detailed by Nasa in an affidavit by one of their experts highlighting instances where Odinga’s votes were reduced or President Kenyatta’s added.

From the affidavit, he argued that, only 15,000 of over 15 million votes cast in the election were contested.

“No court in the world has ever voided an election based on the minimalist approach. These are petty grievances,” said Prof Lumumba.

“The rule is that he who alleges must prove. What the petitioners have made is allegations…but have failed to prove,” he added.

“Kenyans gave birth to a baby. IEBC's role is midwifery. The baby is alive and well. You are being asked to strangle the baby. Decline the invitation,” he said.

"What you have before you is a petition replete with allegations, a petition that is dead on arrival,".

Odinga’s video on interviews with Chris Msando, the IT manager at the IEBC who was killed days to the elections, “offends all the rules”, he said.

“Kenyans turned out in large number on the 8th of August and expressed their will. This court should be very cautious to overturn that will unless it is demonstrated that will was subverted,” he added.

“The totality of our submissions are that we have demonstrated that this petition is destitute of merit. Because it is destitute of merit, it should only suffer one fate – rejection,” he concluded.