CJ Martha Koome Breaks Protocol for Okiya Omtatah

Activist Okiya Omtatah presenting his petition at the Supreme Court on Wednesday August 31, 2022.
Activist Okiya Omtatah presenting his petition at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 31, 2022.
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Judiciary

Chief Justice Martha Koome broke the Supreme Court protocol to allow activist Okiya Omtatah to finish his presentation on Wednesday, August 31.

The president of the Supreme Court accorded the Busia Senator-elect six more minutes to make his submissions before the apex court, going against the set timelines.

According to rules released during the pre-trial hearing, Omtatah was supposed to deliver his argument before the seven-judge bench in thirty minutes.

However, CJ Koome allowed him more time since he was making a PowerPoint presentation.

Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilo (left) consulting with Chief Justice Martha Koome (right) in the Supreme court of Kenya on August 31, 2022
Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu (left) consulting with Chief Justice Martha Koome (right) in the Supreme court of Kenya on August 31, 2022
Judiciary

"According to mine, your time is over. If you could just finish your slides because they seem to have lost theirs," Koome stated.

However, Senior Counsel Tom Ojienda was blocked from making his further submissions with Justice Isaac Lenaole arguing that his time was up.

"Senior counsel we agreed on the ground rules yesterday (Tuesday, August 30), and your time is up. In fact, his time went over because he was on PowerPoint presentation, and we noted he went over by six minutes," Koome corroborated.

Okiya, in his petition, argued that the presidential results released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) were mathematically incorrect.

The activist maintained that the Supreme Court should annul the Presidential election since President-elect William Ruto did not meet the constitution requirement of 50 per cent plus one vote.

"How a KIEMS kit would still be transmitting 23hrs after the close of elections is something that is difficult to comprehend. Demonstration that ghost voters may have impacted the electoral results," he told the court.

"We must work towards a digital election and move away from paper elections which allow human interference and sometimes without trace," he added.

Okiya Omtatah
A photo of senator-elect Okiya Omtatah filing a past case.
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