Editor's Review

"That exercise took no less than 36 hours, and that’s why perhaps the court said we did all this but it turned out to be a wild goose chase," CJ Koome.  

Chief Justice Martha Koome has defended the Supreme Court over the use of controversial phrases during the ruling that upheld President William Ruto's win in the August polls. 

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Friday, November 4, Koome was put on the spot over the use of phrases like hot air and wild goose chase in the final verdict delivered by the Supreme Court. 

While defending the Supreme Court, Koom noted that they were just normal English words and were not meant to offend anybody. 

“If you read the judgement and followed the reasoning, there is a reasoning for each of those conclusions. Why the court made those remarks. Those are English terms, perhaps they angered some people, but they were not meant to offend anybody. 

“It was just an expression of the finding of the evidence that was presented before the court because, for instance, there were some Form 34As which were brought, relying on evidence which was hearsay," Koome stated. 

CJ Martha Koome and Philemona Mwilu 

The Chief Justice mentioned that the forms that were presented in court were photoshopped and that's why perhaps the Court used some vocabulary like wild goose chase. 

"The court went ahead to look at the original Form 34As to compare with those forms which were alleged to have been interfered with, and the court found that those forms were actually photoshopped."

"The court went ahead to ask for the ballot boxes from all the polling stations where those allegations emanated from, where there was said to be interference, and Kenyans watched when scrutiny was done of those original forms in the boxes comparing them with original forms that were brought by IEBC, that exercise took no less than 36 hours, and that’s why perhaps the court said we did all this but it turned out to be a wild goose chase," Koome said. 

At the same time, Former Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential running mate Martha Karua has filed a petition in the East African Court of Justice to challenge the Supreme Court's ruling on the 2022 presidential elections.