NASA announcement that it will boycott the polls is not news at all

They had dropped hints in every word they said and move they made. It was common knowledge they would throw in the towel sooner rather than later.

They began the journey to the boycott announcement immediately after the Supreme Court annulled the presidential polls. Yes, they celebrated the ruling wildly and fervently, giving the impression they would grab this rare opportunity with both hands and immediately go back to the people to seek votes.

Indeed this was a priceless chance for NASA and Raila Odinga to prove to the world the authenticity of their claim that their victory had been stolen.

Alternative

And there is no other avenue of doing this than through the democratic will of the voters as directed by the Supreme Court and as enshrined in the Constitution.

However, going for another election was not part of their plans from the word go. This is why they hastily embarked on erecting hurdles against the repeat polls instead of seeking to demonstrate that they did not go to court just to waste Kenyans’ time. NASA’s claims that Jubilee rigged the election — which do not stand scrutiny and fly in the face of the Supreme Court ruling — were part of their grand scheme.

If indeed Jubilee had stolen, it should have been the one prevaricating and seeking to avoid the ballot. However, Jubilee has always indicated it is ready for the elections any day any time in order to prove to the world that its victory was not a product of fraud.

How can the camp that allegedly rigged the election be the one that is so eager to go back and face the electorate afresh?

Jubilee has been raring to go and face voters again because it is confident it won genuinely on August 8.

It is highly implausible to have the majority in Parliament, highest number of governors, senators, women representatives, MCAs and lose the presidency; it simply does not add up.

There also is something fundamental that the Supreme Court said in making its ruling that should have made NASA comfortable going for the repeat polls.

The judges categorically stated that should the mistakes that were witnessed in the August 8 polls recur, they would not hesitate to annul the elections once more.

This ought to have been music to the ears of NASA. If these iron-clad assurances could not assuage their fears, then nothing ever will.

NASA’s boycott of the polls is thus illogical, unjustified, undemocratic and insensitive. It is only behaving this way because they never won in the first place. In fact the defeat they suffered was far more resounding than they thought.

Smarting from this heavy loss, the Supreme Court decision came as a lifeline not to their victory claim but to their political careers. They, therefore, rode on the ruling to push a deliberately misleading narrative of stolen victory to sooth their political egos.

This is why NASA principals have been gallivanting all over proclaiming that they did not lose the elections, and if anything they won.

The Supreme Court verdict did not dissect the numbers in the ballot boxes, and it is mendacious for them to interpret the nullification of the results to mean they won.

It is now turning out that all these demands and protests against the IEBC were aimed at preparing the ground for the boycott, which is better to them than another round of humiliating defeat. By not participating, NASA also wants to deny Uhuru Kenyatta the glitter and legitimacy of victory and keep the country on edge.

Saving face

From another perspective, Raila is boycotting the elections as a way of looking for the most honourable exit from the political stage. Having lost in the presidential race for a record four times, do you expect him to go into another defeat with his eyes wide open?

It is probable then that he is beginning to cut his losses as retirement knocks hard at his door. Certainly it will sound nice to him when history books say Raila was not defeated on August 8, 2017 but that Jubilee and IEBC conspired to steal his victory.

They know the truth, which is that the NASA brigade is afraid of the polls because they were beaten and they would have suffered a similar fate on October 26.

Kipchumba Murkomen is the Senator for Elgeyo-Marakwet County