BABU OWINO TO DEFEND SUIT AFTER STRIKEOUT BID FAILS.

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Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino at Milimani Law Court on Thursday October 19,2017.

BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
High court declines to strike out election petition challenging Embakasi East MP Babu Owino’s election for filing his responses late.

Justice Joseph Sergon ruled that the delay has been properly explained.

In the case Francis Mureithi who filed the petition on September 5 through filed the notice of motion arguing that Owino and two other respondents have failed to respond within seven days of service contrary to the law.

“The respondents have refused, neglected and failed to file their notices of address of service and response to the petition within the prescribed time in law,” argued Mureithi.

Mureithi wanted the court to order the petition conceded.

Jubilee Party’s Francis Mureithi through his lawyer Ham Lagat applied to have Babu’s victory annulled, saying that his late response to the petition could have meant that he was not challenging it.

The Court heard Mureithi’s case on October 11th 2017. He also notified the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Babu Owino and the returning officer of the constituency through a notice on newspaper dated September 7th.

Babu Owino, however, says that he filed his response in time, though his lawyers, Otiende Omollo and Jackson Awele stated that the reason why the response to the petition was filed late is that it was based on a provision on a newspaper that did not catch their attention in time.

“All three respondents refused, neglected and failed to file their notices of response within the prescribed time. No explanation was given by Babu Owino to explain the delay. He is responsible for the delay. It is a case of negligence by the MP to allege he had not seen the advert in widely circulated newspapers,” said lawyer Lagat.

The response to Mureithi’s petition was supposed to be filed within a period of 7 days, failure to do so resulting in a fresh election.

 

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