Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday evening revealed that the International Criminal Court played a role in his reluctant acceptance of Dr. William Ruto’s electoral victory that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Speaking during a thanksgiving ceremony that was held at the Safari Park Hotel for his presidential campaign team, Raila said that the fear of facing ICC charges if he called for mass protests that turned bloody compelled him to accept the Supreme Court verdict.
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“I spent a lot of time doing that exercise (the Ivory Coast mediation). That is why I have experience in what has happened on the continent. That is why when I make certain decisions, I make them with that background information. The then President, when he was removed from power, found himself at the ICC,” Raila said.
The former Prime Minister who was the presidential candidate for the Azimio la Umoja Coalition went on to claim that Dr. Ruto had not managed to get 50 per cent of the vote, and that he (Raila) had won the presidency by over 60 per cent.
He alleged that his victory was stolen by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in conjunction with the Supreme Court.
Raila has been critical of the Supreme Court, arguing that the court should have declared him the winner of the August presidential election, or nullified the election and called for a fresh one.
A few weeks ago, he was heavily criticized after threatening that the Azimio coalition had the capacity to call for mass protests to eject Supreme Court judges from their court for upholding the election of Dr. Ruto.
He made this claim during a luncheon that was held after the inauguration of Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir.
