Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi has launched a scathing attack on a Malindi High Court decision that declared Kenya’s next presidential election is constitutionally due in August 2026, intensifying debate within legal and political circles.
In remarks that have stirred sharp reactions, Ahmednasir dismissed Justice Mugure Thande’s judgment as fundamentally flawed, accusing the court of misapplying constitutional principles in a matter of national importance.
“The judgment by Justice Thande is for the ages… one of the most stupid judgments rendered by a Kenyan court,” he said, arguing that the ruling reflects a worrying trend where courts handling complex constitutional questions stray from rigorous legal reasoning.
Justice Thande held that Article 136(2)(a) of the Constitution requires a presidential election to be held on the second Tuesday of August in the fifth year following the last General Election.
Based on that interpretation, she concluded that the next poll falls on August 11, 2026, not 2027 as previously scheduled by the electoral commission.
The court found that the prevailing electoral calendar was anchored on an incorrect reading of the Constitution and warned that any presidential election held outside the 2026 date would be unconstitutional.
However, in a move seen as tempering the immediate impact of the decision, the judge suspended the implementation of her declaration until after the next General Election.
She cited logistical constraints and the risk of destabilising an already established electoral process.
The petition prompting the ruling sought clarity on how to compute the constitutional timeline following the August 9, 2022 General Election.
With the judgment now under intense scrutiny, attention has shifted to whether appellate courts will be called upon to settle the question, even as it raises broader issues about constitutional interpretation and judicial responsibility in politically sensitive matters.