Ruto: Supreme Court Judges Executed a Coup against the Will of Kenyans
Deputy President William Ruto has described the ruling by the Supreme Court that invalidated President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election a coup against the will of the electorate.
Speaking while on a campaign tour to Kiambu County on Sunday,Ruto attacked the four Supreme Court judges who annulled the presidential election in the continued onslaught on the Judiciary by the ruling party.
"The judges orchestrated and executed a coup against the will of over 15 million Kenyans. By passing a verdict that overturned the will of the people, the judges have just earned themselves a permanent place of shame in the history of the country,".
"It is not acceptable to the Kenyan people that three men and one woman sat and decided to overturn their will," Ruto said.
He added: "We do not need connections and networks in the courts to win an election because it is the people who elect."
Ruto said it was unjust for the court to nullify the outcome of the election, considering the fact that no disputed the total number of votes the President garnered. He said the dispute was on the transmission of the results only.
Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki hit out at the Kenya Magistrate and Judges Association (KMJA) for seeking to gag Jubilee politicians from criticising the court ruling.
KMJA had on Saturday condemned the attacks on Chief Justice David Maraga and his Supreme Court colleagues by Jubilee.
"Do not try to cow us into silence. You have not seen anything yet. The criticism will continue since even if we have said we will respect the decision of the court, we do not agree with it," said Prof Kindiki.
Kindiki Jubilee leaders were only criticising the Supreme Court verdict and should not be misunderstood to attacking the judiciary.
"We are not attacking the communities but individuals who erred in their ruling. All you are seeing is an attack on wrong reasoning of individuals and not communities," he said.
He added: "At the least minimum, we expected that the court would have ordered a recount of the presidential votes. The votes are still there and we are wondering why the court could not order a recount if the transmission is the one which had a problem."
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria said that action will be taken once Jubilee wins the repeat poll "After we are done with the repeat-elections we will definitely have to bite the bullet and in that respect will spearhead amendments to the Constitution to ensure that for the Supreme Court to in future overturn presidential results, all the seven judges must have a unanimous decision."