Kenya: Lawyers, Parties Warned Against Discussing Merits of Presidential Petition Outside Court

30 August 2022
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Jemimah Mueni

Nairobi — Chief Justice Martha Koome has warned lawyers in the presidential petition against discussing merits of the cases, outside the Supreme Court.

Koome said that lawyers and counsel found engaging in such may be cited for being in violation of the provisions of the law, under section 28 of the Supreme Court Act.

The CJ was speaking on Tuesday morning during the ;pre-trial conference where she outlined the ground rules for parties and advocates in the presidential petition, whose hearing begins Wednesday.

"These are judicial proceedings and therefore discussing the merits of the case by parties and counsel outside the court, is not permitted," stated CJ Koome.

CJ Koome also cautioned parties participating in the petition to maintain decorum, noting that the use of offensive language during proceedings will not be entertained.

"Courtesy must be observed at all times, and the court will not tolerate offensive language," she stated.

The Supreme Court has framed nine issues that will be used to determine the outcome of the 2022 presidential election petition.

The issues enumerated by the seven-judge bench include;

 Whether the technology deployed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for the conduct of August 9, 2022, met the standards of integrity, verifiability, security, and transparency to guarantee accurate and verifiable results.

 Whether there was interference in the uploading and transmission of polling station results from the polling stations to the IEBC public portal.

 Was there a difference between forms 34As uploaded on the IEBC public portal, forms 34As received at the national tallying center, and forms 34As issued to the agents at the polling stations?

 Whether the postponement of gubernatorial elections in Kakamega and Mombasa counties and parliamentary polls in Kitui Rural, Kachileba, Rongai, and Pokot South constituencies and electoral wards in Nyaki West in North Imenti constituency and Kwa Njenga in Embakasi South Constituency resulted in voter suppression to the detriment to the petitioners in petition number E005 in 2022.

 Unexplained discrepancies between the votes cast for presidential candidates and other elective positions.

 Whether the IEBC carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results per the provisions of articles 138 (3)C and 138 (10) of the Constitution.

 Whether the President-Elect attained 50 percent plus one vote of the votes case in accordance with article 138 (4) of the Constitution.

 Whether there were irregularities and illegalities of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election.

 What reliefs and orders can this court grant?

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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