OPINION: Why October 26 presidential poll is valid and Uhuru Kenyatta shall be declared president

A Mexican Author, Don Miguel Ruiz, once said: "People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truths and lies." Let us consider the truth, the lies and the in-betweens about the October 26 presidential poll.

Here is the truth: The Supreme Court ruled that there were some illegalities and irregularities in conducting the presidential elections on August 8. The law was not followed. The Supreme Court went ahead and ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct a fresh election in strict adherence to the Constitution and the existing law. This ruling affected all the presidential candidates who took part in the election irrespective of who raised the flag on the illegalities and the irregularities. Therefore, the petitioner, in this case Raila Odinga and his running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka do not have exclusive rights to the ruling. Matter of fact, the ruling was for the good of all the Kenyans including the competitors of the petitioner.

The in-between that brought confusion is the subsequent blunders the electoral body made. The IEBC gazetted two candidates, instead of conducting fresh elections that involved all the candidates that participated in the presidential poll on August 8. Article 140(3) of Constitution of Kenya 2010 is clear. It states; "If the Supreme Court determines the election of the president-elect to be invalid, a fresh election shall be held within sixty days after the determination."

Here is a fat lie, that the withdrawal of Raila Odinga and his running-mate means the elections should be cancelled. This is a lie. High Court ruling for the inclusion of ThirdWay Alliance Party presidential candidate, Ekuru Aukot, in the repeat eelction was a correction on the blunder IEBC had made by excluding the other six presidential candidates. There Raila Odinga was one among equals in the repeat poll. His withdrawal does not affect the legality of October 26 election.

Raila's boycott is a political blunder. It was based on IEBC preparedness to conduct free, fair, credible and verifiable elections in accordance with the constitution and other existing laws. The IEBC was found culpable for August 8 election but not for October 26 election.

The bottom line is that October 26 presidential elections is valid and the Supreme Court will uphold it which will spark protests from the Raila-led coalition, the National Super Alliance, NASA.

What will remain to be seen is how Uhuru Kenyatta will lead under such circumstances with the country divided right in the middle on ethnic grounds.

The best thing to do for the sake of the country is to dialogue and agree to postpone the election for the country to heal from the polarization as Barack Obama recently said, " “But here’s one thing I know: If you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you’re not going be able to govern them.”