The High Court in Mombasa has directed a petition seeking to compel IEBC to conduct gubernatorial elections on August 30 to be mentioned on Wednesday, August 23.
High court judge Stephen Githinji in his ruling informed the parties to confirm whether the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will have communicated to the petitioners officially or gazetted the new dates for election.
The petitioners through lawyer Willis Oluga informed the court that following the new development where IEBC had announced new dates for election there was a need to wait for the official communication from IEBC before withdrawing the matter.
“We only learnt of the new dates through mainstream media and social media. We urge the court to have the matter mentioned on Wednesday to confirm if the commission will have officially communicated to the petitioners or gazetted the new dates. If no communication will have been received we will engage the court for further directions,” Oluga said
In the matter, IEBC did not enter appearance during the mention.
However, Attorney General Kihara Kariuki, entered an appearance in the matter.
Enter an appearance is a term which simply means you intend to defend the case. When a person has been served with a summons, the first step to defending the summons is to enter an appearance. [sic]
Petitioners sued Chebukati
In the matter, three Mombasa residents sued IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati as the first respondent, the Ministry of Interior and National coordination and the Attorney General as the second and third respondents respectively.
The petitioners have averred that the respondents were to conduct the election for the position of Governor of Mombasa county alongside other elective posts on August 9. However, on August 8, Chebukati postponed the election on grounds that there was an error and mixup in the ballot papers.
“On August 2022 the 1st and 2nd respondents unilaterally postponed again the elections for the position of governor of Mombasa county indefinitely citing alleged harassment, threats and intimidation of IEBCs staff based at the National Tallying centre at Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi which has no connection to do with the IEBC officials located in Mombasa,” reads part of the petition.
“The respondents have not indicated at all if there is breach of peace in Mombasa county or the other seven electoral areas and that the 3rd respondent herein is not able to offer security so as to warrant the postponement of the elections as a result of the alleged intimidation of staff limited only to Nairobi,” lawyer Willis Oluga said.
The petitioners are further seeking compensation for undergoing mental torture for having prepared to vote on two consecutive dates only for the commission to suspend the elections.
