Court of Appeal to hear Naisula Lesuuda’s nomination case

Naisula Lesuuda

By Standard Reporter

Nairobi, Kenya: The hearing of the case challenging the nomination of former journalist Naisula Lesuuda to the Senate will start this morning at the Court of Appeal.

The matter follows an appeal lodged by the petitioner Lydia Mathia after another petition to the same effect was disallowed by the High Court in a ruling delivered on September 27,  this year.

Mathia had argued that it was wrong for Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to rearrange the ranking or order of priority of the TNA list.

For this reason, Lesuuda was not validly nominated on the grounds that the list submitted shows that Mathia was ranked number three while Lesuuda was ranked number five.

Mathia said acceptance by Lesuuda of illegal conferment of office and acquiescence meted against Mathia constituted violation of article 3,10,27,28,38 and 50 of the Constitution.

The actions and omissions of the first respondent (Lesuuda), Mathia had argued, constituted a breach of national values and principles of governance and in effect the petitioner’s (Mathia) right to equality and freedom from discrimination had been violated.

But in his ruling, Justice RE Ougo said the petitioner failed to prove that IEBC did not have the mandate or discretion pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution and Elections Act 2011 to substitute the names of the petitioner with that of Lesuuda in the list of women members nominated to the Senate.