Eric Mutua to honour Supreme Court summons over Raila Odinga's presidential petition

LSK Chairman Eric Mutua at a past event. (Photo:File/Standard)

By Standard Digital Reporter

Nairobi, Kenya: The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Chairman Eric Mutua will honour Summons to appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday, August 1.

Mutua said that he will obey the Summons to appear before the highest Court in the country.

“I respect and hold the Judiciary in very high esteem…I shall appear before The Supreme Court as directed tomorrow from 8:30am,” Mutua said on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court issued the summons last Monday.

“You are hereby summoned to appear before the Supreme Court on August 1 at 9am,” said the letter signed by Lucy Njora, Deputy Registrar of The Supreme Court.

The Summon was dated July 22, 2013. The LSK Chairman received the Summons on July 24, 2013 through his private law firm.

However, the communication did not say why the LSK chairman was summoned or whether he will appear before a full bench of the Judges who handled the Presidential Petition filed by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who disputed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory.

Raila and civil society groups under the banner of African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) challenged President Kenyatta’s victory claiming the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) did not conduct a fair, transparent and credible election.

Subsequently, LSK appointed Senior Counsel Prof Tom Ojienda to lead the Legal Team representing Mutua in Court.

In April, The Supreme Court President Chief Justice Willy Mutunga had said that comments allegedly made by Mutua and published in a local daily that he had contravened a Court order warning against commenting on the then ongoing Presidential Petitions challenging the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as President.

Chief Justice Mutunga said the article attributed to Mutua touched on issues before the Court and ordered him to appear before the Supreme Court on a date to be notified to him.