Chief Justice gives directions on the election cases filed Monday

Chief Justice David Maraga. He directed that responses and submissions should be filed in the registry and served to the other parties by Sunday, November 12. 5pm. [File, Standard]

The electoral commission and President Uhuru Kenyatta have until Sunday evening to file their responses to the presidential petitions challenging the October 26 poll.

Chief Justice David Maraga on Tuesday directed that the responses plus the submissions should be filed with the registry and served to the other parties by Sunday 5pm.

The CJ also directed that the submissions should be 30 pages of at least 12 points font and double-spaced.

NASA leaders

The same orders apply to National Super Alliance (NASA) leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetang'ula, Musalia Mudavadi and James Orengo in the petition filed against them by Institute of Democratic Governance.

“The respondents should file and serve their responses to the petition together with their submissions within four days of service in accordance with rule 11 of the Supreme Court presidential election petition rules,” the CJ directed.

Any party that will file any other application relating to the cases, according to Justice Maraga, will have until Monday noon and those who will reply to the application will have filed replies by 5pm the same day.

The CJ limited the extra applications to only five pages.

Amicus Curiae (friends of the court) have also been given until Monday to file their briefs seeking to be enjoined.

“Any party wishing to be admitted to the petition as amicus curiae pursuant to rule 54 of the Supreme Court rules 2012, file and serve its application with the amicus brief limited to five pages of at least font 12 double spacing by 5pm Monday November 13, 2017,” the judge ordered.

The timelines set by the president of the Supreme Court lead to a pre-trial conference being held next Tuesday and full hearing to follow.

The apex court has 14 days to either uphold Uhuru’s re-election or order the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to carry out a third presidential election.

Time constraint

It will be a race against time, with all eyes keen to see whether the highest court in the land will this time stand the pressure of delivering a detailed judgement by the 14th day.

That court had promised to give a detailed judgment on the August 8 election but ended up delivering a summary. The judges cited time constraints as the reason for not explaining why they annulled the presidential election.

The Supreme Court will deliver its ruling on petitions by November 20.

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