Court of Appeal rejects July appeal date against Lamu Senator Anuar Loitiptip

The Court of Appeal has rejected an application by Lamu senatorial loser Albeity Hassan Abdalla to push his appeal against the election of Anuar Lotiptip to July.

Justice Wanjiru Karanja said the time limit for the hearing of the appeal would have elapsed in July and ordered it heard on May 13.

“I am giving Albeity 14 days to file his submission along with issues he wants to be considered in the appeal and let the other parties respond within seven days so that the appeal is heard on May 13 this year,” said Ms Wanjiru.

ELECTED SENATOR

The judge gave the orders after rejecting an application by Mr Abdalla’s lawyer, Yusuf Abubakar, who wanted the decision of the High Court confirming Mr Lotiptip as the duly elected senator for Lamu County set aside.

“Tell your client that the hearing must be in the first or second week of May because of the timeline set out for all petitions,” said Wanjiru.

The judge told the lawyers that the Court of Appeal in Mombasa wanted to clear election petition appeals so they could go and help other regions where there were overwhelming numbers of appeals.

Mr Abubakar had told the judge that his client wanted the time extended to enable him to hire a senior lawyer to lead the case.

COURT ERRED

Abdalla argued that the High Court erred in law by refusing to allow scrutiny of the votes, which he had applied for, despite overwhelming evidence he presented in court.

He claimed that the trial judge failed to recognise that the evidence at the KinagwePrimary School polling station proved that there were more votes cast than the number of registered voters.

He also argued that the trial judge failed to recognise his rights to have agents appointed in various polling stations. He said his agents were barred from the polling stations.

The petitioner said the judge made a mistake in dismissing the application for scrutiny despite the evidence he tendered.