Judges brainstorm on poll appeals

By Wahome Thuku

Nairobi, Kenya: Court of Appeal judges are meeting in Nairobi to brainstorm on how to deal with petitions arising from the ongoing election suits.

With constitutional deadline for concluding all the petitions in magistrate courts and high courts approaching, the Court of Appeal judges now face the challenge of dealing with disputed decisions.

The judges have gathered at Boma Hotel in Nairobi for a two-day Electoral Disputes Resolution colloquium to discuss the challenges awaiting them.

The event opened by Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal is organised by Judiciary Working Committee on Election Preparations, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa and International Development Law Organisation.

The judges discussed in technical details how to deal with scrutiny of votes, costs of appeals, reviving those petitions already struck out and keeping to the constitutional timelines. They analysed the hiccups in the electoral laws and decided cases.

Under the Constitution, the petitions in the lower courts must be disposed within six months from March, which fall in August and September.

Where an appeal is filed, the Court of Appeal has another six months to dispose it. “This is fixed and can’t be changed. When the clock ticks you put down your pen, walk out and that petition dies,” said High Court Judge David Majanja. Of particular concern is how to reconcile the timelines for the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Time constraints

Judges questioned whether the time count should stop when a petition is struck out and restart if the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court reinstates it. The judges were also concerned about the effects of suspending the proceedings at the High Court when an appeal is filed.

Justice Onyango Otieno asked his colleagues in the Court of Appeal to consider the time constraints when dealing with appeals.

“If we fall in the trick of the interlocutory appeals and delay the matters in High Courts, we will have ourselves to blame,” he warned.

He said once Court of Appeal revives a struck-out petition, the suit must go before a different judge.