CORD principals Raila Odinga,Kalonzo Musyoka,Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula and his Kakamega counterpart Bonny Khalwale at Milimani law courts.
BY THOMAS KARIUKI.
Jubilee MPs have asked the court to punish Cord chiefs Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula over violent protests they have been fueling every Monday.
A suit against them was filed on Friday May 20 and certified urgent. It will be heard on Monday where the Cord coalition is expected to appear.
They said that RAILA, KALONZO, WETANG’ULA, and ORENGO have declined to obey orders issued on April 29 against violent protests, yet the said orders were granted in the presence of the Cord lawyers and published in the Nation newspaper of May 8 2016.
Jubilee MPs said the order is neither onerous nor ambiguous in any respect yet they have openly defied it.
They say that Cord failed to petition parliament or initiate any complaint against any IEBC commissioner and instead marched to the offices at Anniversary Towers, blowing whistles while inciting a crowd of followers bearing placards emblazoned with the words “IEBC MUST GO”, “THIEVES CANNOT SUPERVISE ELECTIONS”, and such like messages, uttering words to forcibly demand the removal of the IEBC Commissioners from office.
The MPs say that the contemnors while alleging that they have “unlimited, unrestricted, and blanket rights” under Article 37 of the Constitution to “agitate” for the resignation, vacation from office of the commissioners have failed to adhere to the lawful process of addressing such issues as envisaged in the order.
Through their lawyer Harisson Kinyanjui, they say that the gravity of the contempt is so heavy that imposition of a custodial sentence is necessary for public protection.
“Kenyan Nation in the Comity of Nations stands to suffer grave attrition with the threatened and further contumacious acts of the Contemnors as Kenya is due to host a Global UNEP Summit on May 23 2016 running to May 27 2016,” they say.
Necessitating the court’s intervention, Jubilee says that Cord on May 23 2016 has stated they will once again block the ingress and egress of the IEBC’s head office at Anniversary Towers, University Way.
“The contemnors have denigrated the Constitution in seeking to force the removal and/or un-contemplated and totally unwarranted resignation of the IEBC Commissioners on trumped up allegations of unfounded bias,” the MPs said.
Fomenting public unrest in violation of the court order, they say is no justification for the Cord leaders to advance their political Agenda in Kenya where the Principle of the Rule of Law is the binding element.
