Kisii politician loses election petition over lawyer’s certificate

By Kenan Miruka

A petitioner challenging the election of a member of the Kisii County Assembly got a rude shock when his petition was struck out because his lawyer had not renewed his practicing certificate.

An election loser in the Bassi Chache Ward elections, Japhet Omari Ombeo had filed a petition at Ogembo law courts challenging the election of Robert Nyamache Siocha as County Representative.

He had cited the returning officer for Bobasi constituency and the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as the second and third respondents.

During the pretrial conference, Isaac Odhiambo for the second and third respondents applied to have the petition struck off on grounds that it was incompetent and incurably defective as the petitioner’s advocate, Japhet Osoro, was unqualified to act as an advocate.

The defendant’s produced documents from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK)’s website which indicated that the petitioner’s lawyer had not renewed his practicing certificate since 2008.

Section 34 of the Advocate’s Act bars any unqualified person from either directly or indirectly taking instructions or drawing any instrument relating to any legal proceeding.

Attempts by Mr Osoro to enjoin another advocate to represent his client failed as the court held that the petition was incompetent right from the drafting stage owing to the expired practicing certificate.

In his ruling, Ogembo Senior Principal Magistrate Daniel Ogola said he had found the petition incompetent and it could not be cured by appointing another lawyer.