Justice Mohammed Ibrahim and Njoki Ndung’u said the election should be put on hold following an appeal by ousted MP George Wanjohi/FILE
Justice Mohammed Ibrahim and Njoki Ndung’u said the election should be put on hold following an appeal by ousted MP George Wanjohi.
The judges ruled that Wanjohi has an arguable appeal which the full bench of the court must hear, and directed the parties to appear before the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court to pick a date for hearing of the petition.
The judges also directed Wanjohi’s lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui to file his submissions and other supporting document by the close of business Wednesday for expeditious hearing of the appeal.
Wanjohi lost his seat when the Court of Appeal ruled that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had no legal authority to declare him winner after cancelling a certificate earlier issued to Stephen Kariuki.
Wanjohi had moved to the IEBC’S complaints tribunal after Mathare Returning Officer William Gichine declared Kariuki the winner of the March 2013 poll.
Kariuki, who is the eldest son of former Starehe legislator Bishop Margret Wanjiru, was declared the winner after garnering 34,076 votes against Wanjohi’s 32,156 votes. READ: Mathare MP-elect embroiled in row with IEBC.
Wanjohi appeared before the Thomas Letangule-led tribunal complaining that he was denied victory by IEBC officials which the tribunal agreed with, and handed Wanjohi the winner’s certificate.
When Kariuki later moved to the High Court, Justice George Kimondo agreed with the IEBC tribunal and declared that Wanjohi was validly elected area MP. Dissatisfied with the High Court, Kariuki once again moved to the Court of Appeal, successfully dethroning Wanjohi.
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