Sonko asks court to dismiss appeal on election petition
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko. He wants the court to dismiss an appeal on an election case. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- An ODM official wants to revive the election petition against Mike Sonko.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko wants an appeal filed an ODM official seeking to resuscitate a petition challenging his election dismissed.
Through his lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Mr Sonko said the case filed at the Court of Appeal by Dr Noah Akala seeks to expand the scope of the appeal yet it raises similar issues to the ones filed by Japheth Muroko and Zachaeus Okoth.
APPEAL
Dr Akala wanted to take over the petition after it was dismissed by Justice Mbogholi Msagha last month.
But Mr Kinyanjui told Justices Roselyn Nambuye, Gatembu Kairu and Kathurima M’Inoti that Dr Akala was to be a witness in the petition by Mr Muroko and Mr Okoth and anything he seeks to raise can be addressed in the earlier appeal.
Mr Muroko and Mr Okoth had challenged Sonko’s election as Nairobi Governor but the case was dismissed by Justice Msagha, saying that the two were no longer interested in prosecuting the case.
The two, however, faulted the decision to strike out the petition without hearing their application for withdrawal.
According to them, the judge should have set the application for hearing and allowed any interested party to pick up the case.
SECURITY
The Judge ruled that withdrawing the petitioners from the case and leaving the case in abeyance, would cause anxiety to Mr Sonko and residents of Nairobi.
He also ordered the two petitioners to pay Sh5 million costs.
The two petitioners also complained that the Judge failed to address the matter of their security, after raising it with the court.
Mr Muroko through his lawyer Anthony Oluoch claimed he and his family received the threats two days to the start of the hearing of the case. He reported the matter to Kilimani Police Station.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal judges consolidated the two petitions and directed Mr Kinyanjui to file and serve his motion to strike out one of the appeals in two days.
The judges will hear all the applications and give their decision in the final judgment.
The parties will highlight their submissions on March 13.
