Petitioners ask court to reverse ruling

By Isaiah Lucheli

The High Court has been urged to reverse an earlier ruling in which it expunged names of three presidential aspirants from a suit questioning the integrity of their counterparts Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto.

The court heard yesterday that the decision to strike out the names of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, his deputy Musalia Mudavadi, and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka who had diluted the case.

Discriminatory manner

The petitioners, Patrick Njuguna, Augustine Neto (now Ndhiwa MP) and Charles Omanga said the case could now not deal adequately with the issues of leadership and integrity.

Through lawyer Ambrose Weda the petitioners asked the Court of Appeal to suspend the ruling pending the hearing and determination of their appeal.  They said the thrust of the petition was to deal with the question of integrity on the five presidential aspirants in the forth-coming General Election.

“Proceeding with the petition in its current form would prejudice the named petitioners and the two (Ruto and Uhuru) who have been adversely mentioned and yet not made party to the proceedings.

The petitioners would also appear to be acting in a discriminatory manner on matters of integrity,” Mr Weda submitted.

The suit sought to bar the five presidential candidates from contesting the presidency and required Raila, Kalonzo and Mudavadi to refute several allegations touching on their suitability to hold public offices.

But the aspirants got a reprieve after a three-judge bench ruled that amended petitions that introduced the names of the three in the case had been filed irregularly.  The judges, Mohamed Warsame, Isaac Lenaola and Philomena Mwilu struck out the amended petition but left intact the original one, which only had the names of Uhuru and Ruto.

The court then directed the petitioners to serve Uhuru and Ruto because they had been named adversely so that they could decide on whether they would be enjoined as interested parties or respondents in the suit.

Contrary to rules

Justice Lenaola said the amended petition, which enjoined Raila, Musyoka and Mudavadi, had been done contrary to the rules of engagement and violated the direction that had been given by the court in January this year.

In the application, the petitioners say the issue of integrity ought to be dealt with once and for all against all the leading candidates. The case will be heard on November 23.