Mwilu stated that it’s illegal for political parties not to repeat the nomination as directed by the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, July 3 – Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu has warned political parties against ignoring orders to repeat party nominations.
Mwilu stated that it’s illegal for political parties not to repeat the nomination as directed by the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal.
“We did not cause the mess. The mess was caused by parties themselves in the way they conducted their primaries. They brought such number of cases that as at last night, I allocated to judges nine cases of primaries,” she said.
Speaking at the annual judges colloquium in Mombasa, Mwilu warned of dire consequence for all political parties ignoring the court orders.
“Please leave us to do our work and we are doing our part. Since we are in any event ready to hear these cases and confidence of Kenyans will be based on how we continue to deliver on a daily basis, I myself think I stand in a better position than we did on 2013,” she said.
Mwilu indicated that candidates with disputed cases resulting from the shambolic party nomination must be on the ballot papers.
“If these primaries were properly conducted by the political parties, why anyone would be coming to us to resolve their disputes?” she posed.
“And that is why is say and I repeat, let every Kenyan do their part. Bring to us those cases that are clearly cases of mishaps not something like a pre-planned mess by the parties but once it gets here, since we are the final arbiter, we will do our part.”
The deputy CJ further said that the Judiciary is ready to handle all petitions arising from August General Election and it should be left alone to do its work.
She explained that the Judiciary is well equipped and capable of handling the disputes impartially.
The judges of the superior courts were also been urged not to be swayed by partisan interests when making rulings especially during the election period.
They were discussing issues to do digital transformation of the courts and Appeals Court President Paul Kihara emphasised the need for Kenyans to have confidence in the Judiciary.
He further stated this will ensure and maintain trust in the judicial system.
“Our individual and collective courage as judges is always under threat from numerous forces. Even more discouraging is that collegiality seems to be even more wanting,” he said.
The meeting which kicked off a month ahead of the August polls is due to be officially opened by Chief Justice David Maraga on Tuesday.
“Without trust, nothing can be more fundamentally required in achieving collegiality,” Justice Kihara stated.
He said the courts have done a lot of work in preparing for elections and that judges, magistrates and other departments in the Judiciary are set to handle cases that may arise before and after the elections.
“I ask each one of us to examine ourselves and think about how best we can maintain trust between and among us, how we can rebuild the moral hygiene of our distinguished institution,” he stated.
The courts have in the last few weeks not only dealt with matters concerning nominations, but have been tasked with ruling on the declaration of presidential results and will on Friday render judgment on the credibility of the ballot papers printing process.
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