Sonko demands Ksh.30 million in election petition

Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko is demanding Ksh.30 million as cost from two petitioners who are challenging his election as the city boss.

Sonko wants the election petition struck out claiming that the petition filed against him by Japhet Muroko and Zacheus Okoth Oliech amounts to a “gross abuse of court process, is incompetent, fatally defective and ought to be dismissed.”

The Nairobi governor argues that failure to add his deputy governor Polycarp Igathe as a respondent in the election petition is fatal to the petition.

In the notice of motion filed in court, Sonko says that his election as governor cannot be separated from that of his deputy.

“My motion is therefore based on fact that I find it compelling to save the court precious judicial time and resources and to avoid unnecessary litigation beyond this court,” reads court documents.

The governor says he had assumed that the petitioners would seek to enjoin his deputy in the petition but they failed to do so prompting him to file the applications.

“I protest at the petitioners insidious trampling on my Deputy Governor right to be fairly heard in this petition,” says Sonko.

He claims that there being no name and address of service cited for the second petitioner – Zacheus Okoth Oliech – in the petition, the case stands in fatal violation of the election rules 2017.

The governor says that he’s persuaded that Zacheus Okoth Oliech is not a legal petitioner and a stranger having never provided his name and address of service.

Sonko claims that there is no prayer in the petition seeking his nullification as the Nairobi Governor nor is there a plea on the reversal of his election.

“It would not serve the great public interest vesting in the Nairobi County residents to proceed any further with the fatally defective petition,” claims Sonko

It is Sonko’s argument that the court ought not to continue with the hearing of the election petition since it has no basis in law adding that the trail would be an exercise in futility.

High Court Judge Mbogholi Msagha directed that the application be served upon the applicants and appear on 4th of December for hearing of the said application.