Judgement does not confer legitimacy to Uhuru poll win

On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld the electoral commission’s declaration that Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta was validly elected President on October 26. Only a Martian fool would celebrate the court’s verdict. That’s because the legality of an action doesn’t amount to its legitimacy.

The de jure and de facto declaration — by the Supreme Court and the IEBC — of Mr Kenyatta’s election doesn’t make it legitimate. What’s legal — and what’s legitimate — can be as starkly different as night and day. This distinction is not only manifestly evident to legal philosophers like me — it’s in fact more clear to the woman on the street. Supreme Court’s decision confirmed that legal paganism — jurisprudential formalism — is alive and well in Kenya.