Kenyan Supreme Court stops swearing-in of Meru governor

The Supreme Court on Friday stopped the swearing in of the Speaker of Meru County to replace ousted Meru governor Peter Munya.

Supreme Court judges Jackton Ojwang and Smokin Wanjala ordered the status quo to be maintained pending their ruling on March 26 whether to stay the execution of the Court of Appeal judgement or not.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cannot declare the gubernatorial seat vacant.

The Speaker of the Meru county assembly was scheduled to be sworn-in on March 26 to replace Mr Munya on a temporary basis.

“ We direct that the status quo be maintained until we give our ruling on the application by Mr Munya on March 26 seeking to stay the implementation of the judgement of the court of appeal which cancelled the election of the governor,” the two-judge bench ruled.

Pending the outcome of the application filed by Mr Munya the IEBC cannot call fresh elections until the main appeal challenging the election of Mr Munya is determined.

Serve IEBC

The judges ordered the Registrar of the Supreme Court to extract their order and serve it to IEBC and the respondents.

The application to suspend the implementation of judgement of Mr Justice Alnashir Visram, Lady Justice Jamila Mohammed and Mr Justice Otieno Odek was certied urgent by Justice Wanjala on March 20.

Lawyers Okongo Omogeni, Stephen Njiru and Tom Ojienda who challenged the judgement said “the appeal raises triable legal issues and is not frivolous.”

Prof Ojienda told the judges that Mr Munya is entitled to hold a public office under Article 38 of the Constitution.

The governor’s lawyers asked the judges to save the tax payer over Sh300million which will be spent in the by-election.

Prof Ojienda also asked the judges to dismiss submissions by lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu that “ allowing the appeal will open a flood gate of appeals from the counties.”

He said there were very few petitions challenging election of the 47 governors.

“ I urge this court to cease the moment and set the law on elections straight. No flood gates will be opened at all,” stated Prof Ojienda.

Rights violated

Mr Thiankolu asked the judges to dismiss the appeal saying all the grounds raised in the application were wrong and the lawsuit was an arguable case with chances of success.

Mr Omogeni stated that the rights of Mr Munya were grossly violated both at the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Saturday Nation: