The Supreme Court has dismissed an application by President-elect William Ruto seeking to strike IEBC commissioners from the case.
In a ruling online last night, the seven judges ruled that the commissioners, especially the four dissenting commissioners, were rightly included in the petition.
In their view, the main grounds on which the three Petitions are based is that the IEBC, of which the commissioners are members, failed to perform its functions under Article 138 (3) (c) of the Constitution.
“This failure as claimed by the petitioners, was occasioned by the exclusion of the four commissioners from the verification and tallying process by the chair Wafula Chebukati,” the court said.
The court said the claim of being excluded is based on a highly publicized press statement by these very commissioners disowning the declaration of the Presidential Election results by Chebukati.
“This statement by the four commissioners brings them squarely within the ambit of grievance by the petitioners. The latter (petitioners) cannot be faulted for seeking to place before the court any evidence emanating from the four,” the court ruled.
The court has also declined to strike out the Attorney General from the petition saying he is the Attorney General of the Republic of Kenya.
“The holder of such an office has more capacity than any other litigant in this country to fend off any attempts to join him in proceedings to which he ought not to be a party.
The court has also enjoined the Law Society of Kenya as Amicus Curie in the petition.
The court said it’s satisfied that the LSK has established to court grounds of being admitted as Amicus.
