The Supreme Court registry will remain open until midnight tomorrow to receive presidential election petitions.
The judiciary staff working in the registry have been reporting to work from 7 am to 8pm since Monday awaiting for any aggrieved party to file documents challenging the presidential election that was won by Jubilee Party’s flag-bearer, Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, with 8.1million votes.
The National Super Alliance (NASA), which fielded former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and running-mate Kalonzo Musyoka, but lost the highly-charged race by garnering 6.7million votes, has publicly stated it intends to file a petition.
The Supreme Court Registrar, Esther Nyaiyaki, had directed the staff to work during the extended hours in order to adhere to the statutory deadlines governing the hearing and determination of presidential election petitions.
The petitions must be filed within seven days after the formal announcement of the outcome of the presidential election. Time started running since last Friday when the Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Wafula Chebukati, gave the results at the national tallying centre at Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi.
“On the last day of filing the petition and the response to the petition, the registry will be open from 7 am to 12 midnight. These working hour take effect immediately and will be subject to such other directions as the Chief Justice may issue,” Nyaiyaki explained in the public notice issued on Monday.
The petitioner is required to provide the necessary documents to the respondents, in this case President Uhuru, DP Ruto, Chebukati and the IEBC, within two days after lodging the petition. The respondents will have four days to file and serve their responses.
The parties will be at liberty to file any preliminary applications one day after exchanging the court papers. On the eighth day after the filing of the petition, the seven-member bench will hold a pre-trial conference to determine the case management and schedule of the proceedings.
The highest court in the land, chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga, will then handle the petition on a day-to-day basis in open court. The other members are Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and Justices jackton Ojwang, Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u and Isaac Lenaola.
The hearing of the petition must be concluded and determined within 14 days(September 1).
Today several governors were sworn in including Machakos Governor Alfred Mutual.
