LIVE BLOG: Supreme Court rulings on late submissions, IEBC server access

The Supreme Court is making rulings on contentious issues ahead of the hearing of a petition challenging the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the August 8, election.

Among the issues is whether the National Super Alliance (Nasa) will be granted access to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers, whether evidence submitted past the constitutional deadline by both NASA and Uhuru Kenyatta should be used and the enjoinment of Attorney General Githu Muigai, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and other presidential candidates to the petition as friends of the court.

Amicus Curiae 

Lawyer Charles Kanjama’s application to be admitted as a friend of the court in the Presidential election petition dismissed. Court observes he has no proven expertise on any special matter.

“The fact that one has previously been admitted as an amicus doesn’t qualify them to be admitted in a subsequent case. Each case is determined on its merits,” the ruling reads.

Application by ICT Association of Kenya to be enjoined as amicus curiae has also been dismissed while LSK’s application to be admitted as a friend of the court has been accepted but the society must restrict itself to issues of Article 82 of the Constitution.

Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai has been admitted as a friend of the court but is limited to the issue of the Court of Appeal ruling on the finality of Presidential election results announced and declared at Constituency level.

Late Submissions

Judges dismiss application to strike off affidavits filed by NASA out of time. Documents be served to the parties by 9am Monday, August 28.

Similarly, Spreme Court judges have also dismissed an application by Raila Odinga to have documents filed by Uhuru Kenyatta lawyers out of time expunged.

Time Allocation

Raila Odinga’s legal team will have five hours to submit its case.
IEBC will have three hours to make it’s submissions.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s defense lawyers will also be given three hours to make their presentation.
Interested parties, Michael Wainaina, Ekuru Aukot and friends of the court AG Muigai, the LSK will have 20 minutes each to make their presentations.

Finally, Raila Odinga’s legal team will have one hour to make closing submissions.

8:20 pm

The ruling on Raila Odinga’s application to access IEBC servers will be made first thing tomorrow.

8:15 pm

CJ Maraga

Tomorrow the petitioner will have five hours to submit his case.

We have accepted AG Githu Muigai’s application but his involvement is limited.

8:10 pm

ICT expert aplication to be enjoined;

We have come to conclusion that ICT does not meet the criteria to be enjoined.

We have allowed Law Society of Kenya (LSK) application to be enjoined in the case.

8:08 pm

Justice Mohamed

Charles Kanjama wants to be enjoined as an amicus curiae. The court notes that he can be of use to this case when it comes to advise to on the rule of law in different aspects.

He has also filed an affidavit over the same application.

The petitioner, first, second and third respondents opposed the application citing various reasons.

The admission of an amicus is at the discretion of the court despite all parties rejecting Mr. Kanjama.

However, we have dismissed Mr. Kanjama’s application to be a friend to the court.

7:50

Njoki Ndung’u;

We therefore allow the application of Prof. Michael Wainaina to be enjoined in the case on the basis of him being a presidential candidate in the concluded August 8, General Election.

Dr. Ekuru Aukot application also allowed to be enjoined in the petition as the outcome of it will affect him.

Smokin Wanjala

The court has also dismissed an application by Raila Odinga to have documents filed by Uhuru Kenyatta lawyers out of time expunged.

The court has found that the documents filed late by the petitioner are crucial to the case and that some issues highlighted in them had already been reflected on the documents filed before the court on August 18.

We also note that the contents of the affidavits are affecting the submissions of the defense team.

We are inclined to retain the documents and the annexure of the court and that the petitioner should be served to the parties by 9 am on Monday, August 28.

We have dismissed application to strike off affidavits filed by NASA out of time.

7:45 pm

The seven judges of the Supreme Court access the chambers as process kicks-off.

CJ Maraga first acknowledges the presence of judges sent by the International Commission on Jurists.