The Man-in-the-Middle Syndrome

Abstract

Many superstars have theme songs. Picture how the underwear-wearing WWE beefy men walk to their theme songs. Politicians and political parties have theirs too, and they were prominent in the just-concluded election period in 2022. During this Presidential Election Petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya, we were introduced to a legend of a man-in-the-middle. He was aptly assigned the theme song, “Pinky pinky ponky!” However, when the Chief Justice pronounced the judgement: “No credible evidence was presented to prove that anyone accessed the RTS to intercept, detain or store Forms 34A temporarily before theywere uploaded onto the public portal.” The only thing that was missing was the pounding ofthe gavel to show the finality of that matter rendering the legend dead and turning the theme song to a dirge. Harbouring some naïve expectations, I have been hoping an unanimous ruling of 7-0 would help us put some issues to rest. In football, it can only be compared to when Germany creamed Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals of 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil. This matter remains divisive to date. However, conversations around the same still abound. Worse still, judiciary is almost regarded as a bigger man-in-the middle.