IEBC yet to confirm Peter Munya's ejection

By Titus Murithi and Murimi Mwangi

Meru, Kenya: Meru County Assembly Speaker Joseph Kaberia last evening received a court order nullifying the election of Governor Peter Munya.

But Kaberia declined to take over the governor’s office, as required by law, saying he was still waiting for a notification from Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

He said Munya would still remain in office until he (Speaker) receives the document from IEBC.

 “I have not yet received communication from IEBC authorising me to declare the governor’s seat vacant.  I will do that only if I get that letter,” said the Speaker.

He added: “The court order from the Court of Appeal had some mistakes, which need to be rectified. We have agreed with the process servers that they correct the mistakes,” said Kaberia without elaborating on the mistakes found on the order.

And in a separate development, the Court of Appeal sitting in Nyeri has faulted a High Court judge for ordering the arrest and prosecution of suspected electoral offenders without liaising with the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

Appellate court judges Justices Alnashir Visram, Jamila Mohammed and Otieno Odek accused Justice Aaron Makau of the Meru High Court of overstepping his mandate in issuing the order. Justice Makau ordered the arrest of Christine Kananu (TNA) and Stephene Mugambi (GNU) for allegedly giving self-incriminating evidence of having committed electoral offences during the March 4, 2013 elections.