MP sets in motion plan to probe Supreme Court registrar’s report

A Jubilee Party MP has begun a process that would enable scrutiny of a report by the Supreme Court registrar that judges partly relied on to annul the August 8 presidential election.

Kiambu Town MP Jude Njomo wants the National Assembly to have the President set up a commission of inquiry into a report by Ms Esther Nyaiyaki to the judges and related issues at the apex court.

The court is next week expected to start hearing arguments by lawyers in an attempt to have the results of the repeat presidential election nullified after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared re-elected.

CONDUCT

Mr Njomo argued, in a notice of motion awaiting the Speaker’s approval, that: “There is a need to bring into closure the issues arising from the presidential election petition of August 8.”

He said the commission would determine whether there was impropriety in the registrar’s conduct.

It would also confirm that the Supreme Court was not misled to negate the sovereign will of the people following the August 8 election, said the MP.

The motion will have to be approved by the Speaker before it can be scheduled for debate and possible approval or rejection by MPs.

Mr Njomo said he was concerned by reports that attempts by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the alleged doctoring of documents by Ms Nyaiyaki had not been successful.

An attempt by the anti-graft team to get the documents and summon Ms Nyaiyaki was stopped by the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.

ERRORS

The MP said the investigation would enable the country to find out who should be blamed for the errors and at the same time give all those involved a fair chance to defend themselves and state their side of the story.

Mr Njomo cited the reliance by the majority of the judges on the report by Ms Nyaiyaki and the assertions by the minority, Justice Njoki Ndung’u especially, that the forms 34A and 34B met the threshold in form and content.

The Commissions of Inquiry Act gives the President the mandate to appoint one or more commissioners “to inquire into the conduct of a public officer or the conduct or management of a public body, or into any matter into which an inquiry would, in the opinion of the President, be in public interest”.

It will be long before any action is taken, given that the National Assembly is on recess, the case in the Supreme Court is still on and its decision cannot be predicted, but the idea for the commission of inquiry has been spoken of before.

PURGE

Last month, Jubilee leaders spoke of the possible establishment of a select committee or a commission of inquiry to look into the matter.

At the court, there has been a quiet purge since the last decision as several researchers and clerks have been transferred.

There were reported to have been concerns about the manner in which the scrutiny was conducted late August as well as the contradicting information on the forms.

Justice Ndung’u’s scrutiny was reported to have caused disquiet among the staff.

The judge stated that she went through the forms the registrar had reported as having not been signed by returning officers and missing security features and, zeroing in on the ones from Kisauni and Likoni in Mombasa County, found that they had been signed.