Court declines to stop use of Ligale’s findings

A court has declined to bar the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from adopting a report that recommended the creation of 80 new constituencies.

High Court Judge G B M Kariuki on Monday said the legal issues raised by Mr Kiiru Mwangi, who is an aspirant for the Kiharu constituency seat, need to be handled by the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court.

“Weighty legal issues with far reaching effects have been raised by the applicant. They need to be canvassed with all the parties on board,” ruled Justice Kariuki of the Family division.

The applicant alleges that the IEBC has adopted a report prepared by the Interim Independent Review Boundaries Commission (IIBRC) and presented it as its own for public hearings.

While sitting as a vacation judge last week, Justice Kariuki heard that the people of Kiharu told the Andrew Ligale-led IIBRC to split their constituency into four.

“Our requests were not even considered,” Mr Mwangi, an engineer, said in the court papers. He has named the IEBC and the Attorney-General as the respondents.

His lawyer Kivuti Mungai submitted that the IEBC is about to “undertake a very crucial exercise without adhering to the due process and procedure.”

The petitioner said that despite the rejection of the Ligale report by many citizens, the boundaries commission has indicated that it will adopt it.

He is asking the court to order IEBC to conduct a fresh exercise that will take care of the interests of many citizens.

The case will be heard on January 18, 2012.