Explainer: Supreme Court has received petitions and responses. What follows?

After the August 9 general elections, dissatisfied parties had seven days to file petitions challenging the outcome. This ended on Monday, August 22.

The Supreme Court of Kenya, which is at the apex of the Judiciary and with the final authority in arbitration of disputes in the country, received nine petitions by close of the seven-day window.

The main petition is that of Raila Odinga and Martha Karua, the main challengers of William Ruto and Rigathi Gachagua in the August 2022 presidential duel.

The two, who are presidential and deputy presidential candidates for the Azimio One Kenya Alliance, seek, among other things, the invalidation of the declaration of William Ruto as the winner.

Okiya Omtatah, an activist and now Busia senator-elect, also submitted a petition in which he wants the court to dismiss the IEBC results.

He states, backed by calculations, that no presidential candidate achieved the 50 percent plus one threshold that is stipulated in the constitution.

A third petition is by Khelef Khalifa, who was also prominent in the 2017 election petition.

Mr Khalifa wants the court to nullify Dr Ruto win on grounds that the process was marred by massive irregularities including infiltration of the KIEMS kits.

Youth Advocacy Africa also submitted a petition in which it wants the court to nullify the presidential election saying it has evidence that Ruto achieved the constitutional threshold after manipulation of the results.

Reuben Kigame, who was locked out of the race, is seeking a declaration that IEBC violated his rights when it blocked him from vying for the presidency and that this rendered the presidential election null and void.

Then there is the Moses Kuria cross petition in which he wants the court to dismiss Raila's petition on grounds that the former prime minister's team caused violence and is therefore not coming to the court with clean hands.

David Kariuki Ngari, a voter, also wants the court to nullify Ruto's win on among other grounds that the final announcement was made before all the commissioners verified the results.

John Njoroge Kamau, in a separate petition, wants the court to nullify Ruto's win on among other grounds that all IEBC commissioners are required to verify the results before the final announcement and that this didn't happen.

Juliah Nyokabi Chege and other lobbyists also have a petition seeking to nullify the presidential results on the grounds that the process was not followed.

The nine petitioners served the respondents on Tuesday August 23 in line with Supreme Court's requirement that petitioners serve respondents within 24 hours of submitting petitions to the court.

The respondents have also filed responses and filed, with Saturday August 27 being the last day in line with the court's requirement that responses are made within four days after receiving petitions.

Dr Ruto, in a response, wants Raila's petition dismissed on among other grounds that IEBC complied with the law and that there were no alterations to the final results.

Wafula Chebukati has defended credibility of the election and says in the response that the results are accurate and it would be difficult to find anomalies.

Abdi Guliye, a commissioner at IEBC says a fellow commissioner, Juliana Cherera, was pushing for slashing of Ruto's votes by at 233,211 and force a rerun.

He adds that he believes IEBC conducted a free and fair election in line with the law and the court should uphold the declaration.

Boya Molu, another commissioner, fully adopts Chebukati's take on what happened from pre-poll preparation up to announcement of results and adds that there were concerted but unsuccessful attempts to alter election outcome.

However, Ms Cherera, the IEBC vice chair, says chairman Wafula Chebukati announced unverified results despite conflicting figures in some forms 34A and 34B.

She adds that Mr Chebukati turned IEBC into a "one-person show" and subverted the law by ignoring errors and variances on the forms.

Commissioner Justus Nyang'aya said IEBC systems were infiltrated by a foreigner and three staff members.

Irene Masit, another commissioner says the results were processed un-procedurally and terms the exercise a sham.

Commissioner Francis Wanderi says Chebukati arbitrarily deployed and transferred county and constituency returning officers.

He adds in his response that Chebukati walked in and out of the national tallying center boardroom and eventually read to commissioners his own final tally.

Then there is the Raila Odinga response to Moses Kuria's affidavit in which he wants the Supreme Court to refer the petition to the High Court, which he says, has the jurisdiction over the matters raised.

Any rejoinders to the responses are expected to be filed and served on Sunday 28 August before interlocutory applications are filed and served on Monday August 29.

An interlocutory application is a request made by one party, asking the court to make orders to help with their case's preparation or procedure.

A response to the interlocutory applications will be filed on Tuesday August 30. A pre-trial conference will also be held.

Third parties seeking to be friends of the Supreme Court will be allowed to file their applications on Wednesday August 31.

Some of the issues to be discussed and determined during the pretrial conference include the framing of contested and uncontested issues, consideration to consolidate the petitions, and determination on the number of advocates to speak and the time be allocated to each of them

Raila's team has lined up 42 lawyers while IEBC and Ruto side has 26 and 54 respectively, promising a duel whose ending carries different ramifications to the main protagonists.

The hearing and determination of the petition will then start on Tuesday September 1, immediately after the pre-trial conference concludes.

The seven Supreme Court Judges, led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, will then have to determine the petition on or by Monday September 5 in line with the requirement that this is done 14 days from the date of filing the Petition.

Supreme Court timelines

palushula@standardmedia.co.ke