Three activists have moved to the Court of Appeal in a bid to block the Supreme Court from declaring a president-elect from the ongoing petitions challenging the victory of Deputy President William Ruto.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, August 25, the three petitioners explained that they decided to move to the appellate court after their initial petition was dismissed by the High Court (August 24).
The three namely Koome Mbogo, Michael Asola, and Eric Githinji, added that they were not contented with the High court for having thrown out their petition without hearing their arguments.
"Our petition was unfortunately struck out by the High Court. We were never given a chance to explain why went to court. We do not agree with the reasons given by the judge basically because our petition was not an election petition," one of the petitioners explained.
In the petition, the three argued that the Supreme Court should not have powers to declare a winner in the presidential petition as it is the responsibility of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson.
"Ours was simply a constitutional petition for interpretation of section 80(4)(a) of the Election Act which in our opinion contradicts some articles of the constitution.
"The section purports to give power to an election court to declare a winner a presidential election upon the recount of votes," one of the petitioners stated.
While throwing out a petition filed by the three, Justice Hedwig Ong'udi argued that the High Court could not give a directive to the Supreme Court on the ongoing petitions.
“I find under Article 140(2) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court hears the presidential election petition and gives a decision. It is not for this court to direct the Supreme Court on what to do or not do,” the judge ruled.
In a petition filed before the Supreme Court, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga wants the seven-judge bench to declare him President-elect in the concluded polls.
The duo argue that IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati bungled the election and was out of order to declare Ruto as president-elect despite four commissioners disowning the results.
“We want the courts to make that declaration that we won the presidential elections because that is the truth. Instead of going back to the ballot, we should be announced as the winners so that we can be sworn in,” Raila stated then.
