CJ David Maraga Asked to Lock Out Judge From Petition

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi has asked Chief Justice David Maraga to lock out High Court Judge Weldon Korir from hearing a petition filed by former Labour CS Kazungu Kambi to challenge his re-election.

Kingi made an application through his lawyers Ben Mosota and Aoko Otieno claiming the Judge was favoring the petitioner and that he was incapable of being fair and impartial.

In the eight-page application, the Governor stated that Korir had issued two rulings allowing Kambi to deposit the security of the petition without making an oral or formal application.

Kingi argued that the Judge's decision to extend time to deposit security contravenes article 87 of the Constitution, section 78 of the Elections Act and rule 13 of the Election Petition rules.

"The judge predicted the two rulings to save the petition from being struck out as per law," Kingi stated.

[caption caption="Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi "][/caption]

While filing the petition, Kambi claimed he had results indicating that Kingi came a distant third with 46,781 votes.

The former CS argued that during the tallying, he wrote a complaint letter to the Kilifi Returning Officer but she did not receive it.

Kingi who vied on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party ticket garnered 280,686 votes against Kambi’s 44,470.

Last month, Judge Korir threw out another petition filed by a Jubilee Party supporter challenging Kingi's win.

The Judge ruled that the petition filed by Mr William Kahindi was submitted outside the stipulated time.

[caption caption="Former Labour CS Kazungu Kambi"][/caption]