(HRNW)Kenya’s Chief Justice Martha Koome is no pushover she built her career defending dissidents, and her court this year overturned constitutional changes proposed by the president who appointed her.
However, her own reputation for independence and fairness is being called into question after opposition leader Raila Odinga filed a Supreme Court case on Monday seeking to overturn the results of the Aug. 9 presidential election.
The election commission is divided: the chairman declared that Deputy President William Ruto won by about 233,000 votes, but four of the seven commissioners disagreed, claiming that the results were not correctly aggregated. According to Kenya’s largest civil society election observation group, its vote supports the chairman.
Any perceived error in Koome’s ruling or that of the six judges she presides over could erode public trust in the judiciary and jeopardize the peaceful transfer of power in East Africa’s richest and most stable country.
The conflict has heightened tensions in a country with a history of deadly election disputes.