The hearing of presidential petitions challenging the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta has kicked off at the Supreme Court.
The Court started the hearing with the convention of a pre-trial conference that will be used to set the ground rules for the proceedings.
The conference is always convened to set the rules of engagement and also identify the real issues in contest.
[caption caption="Supreme Court judges at a past hearing"]
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During the pre-trial meet, the bench gives essential guidelines to parties litigating the matters including timelines within which the counsel representing various parties shall make their oral submissions in court.
Other issues for determination at this stage include; examining if all the parties have been served with the necessary filings and delivery of rulings regarding who among the applicants have been enjoined either as an interested party or friend of the court.
The session is held in accordance with the court guidelines which indicate that a pre-trial conference should be convened within eight days of the filing of a petition.
During the conference, the court will listen to three petitions filed by activists Njonjo Mue and Khelif Khalifa, former MP Harun Mwau and that of the Institute for Democratic Governance.
Two of the three petitions (Mue, Khalifa and Mwau's) are challenging President Kenyatta's re-election and want the repeat poll nullified.
The case by the Institute for Democratic Governance wants the Court to find Opposition leader Raila Odinga and his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka guilty of causing violence that hindered a section of Kenyans from, exercising their democratic rights.
All the three petitions are to be heard and rulings delivered on or before Monday, November 20th, 2017.
[caption caption="File image of a past Supreme Court hearing"]
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