CORD has listed the IEBC, Hassan, Kenyatta and Ruto as respondents/CFM
Lawyer Mohamed Nyaoga who is part of the team representing IEBC has told Capital FM News that they would file the response on Tuesday afternoon after its drafting was complete.
“It has been hectic preparing a response within the short period of service but we are almost done and will file before the day ends.”
Sources within the IEBC’s legal team say that the lawyers stayed up all night on Monday as they prepared the response to the suit. They were served with the court papers on Saturday.
The petition filed at the weekend by Prime Minister Raila Odinga has listed IEBC, its chairman Issack Hassan, President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto as respondents.
Odinga wants the Supreme Court to nullify the announcement by IEBC that declared Kenyatta President-elect and Ruto as his deputy.
The IEBC legal team which also includes lawyers Paul Nyamodi and Ahmednasir Abdullahi has already filed a response to the petition filed by three voters seeking the court’s interpretation on the validity of rejected votes.
Blogger Dennis Itumbi, TNA strategist Moses Kuria and Florence Sergon want the court to determine if IEBC chairman Hassan was right in using the rejected votes in calculating the percentage each presidential candidate obtained in the final tally.
On Thursday, the IEBC team is also expected to file a response to the petition by the African Centre for Open Governance (AFRICOG) contesting the outcome of the March 4 presidential poll.
According to AFRICOG, the presidential Election was not free, fair, free from violence, or transparent; and that it was not administered in an impartial, efficient, accurate or accountable manner.
The petitioners Gladwell Otieno and Zahid Rajan have argued that there exist ‘abnormal and unexplained patterns of additions and subtractions of entries in the voter register.’
Meanwhile, the Jubilee legal team representing president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy-elect William Ruto are also expected to file their responses on Wednesday, according to informed sources in the party.
Lawyers in the team who were busy on Monday finalising the response went back to the Chancery building on Tuesday to finalise the petition before it is filed.
Attorney General Githu Muigai has filed an application to be enjoined as ‘a friend of the court,’ in the case challenging the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president.
The application to join the case as Amicus Curiae means that that he is not a party to the case but can be enjoined in public interest.
As a friend of the court, the AG can inform the court on points of law or bring matters to the attention of the court that may have been overlooked.
Once all the responses are filed, the Supreme Court will hold a status conference slated for Monday for all parties to lay ground ruled of the landmark petition.
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