BY SAM ALFAN.

A voter wants the IEBC compelled to make public the voters register before elections.

Executive Director  Gladwell Otieno of Africog is seeking enough time for the public to peruse the register before elections.

Ms Otieno argues that section 6 of the Election Act and Regulations 33 of the Elections requires that the register of voters be opened up for inspection by voters 90 days before the election.

Africog also wants the court to prohibit IEBC from deploying a voter register for use in the general election slated for 8th August before it is subjected to public inspection as required under the law.

The Civil Society organisation further holds that there are noted inconsistencies in numbers declared by IEBC adding that the actual number of registered voters is not certain in some regions.

Ms Otieno says that an inspection of the register will enable voters scrutinize and ascertain the actual registered voters in their areas of concern.

In a certificate of urgency, the petitioner says that the continued non observance of the provisions of the law by Chebukati led commission constitute a threat to the rights and freedoms to have a free and fair election.

BY SAM ALFAN.

A six year old has gotten justice at last with the man she knew as her grandfather being jailed for life for sexually abusing her.

Joseph Muriithi Macharia appeal to have a 10 years imprisonment quashed was dismissed by the high court and sentenced to life.

“The sentence of ten years imposed on the appellant was not lawful. The lawful sentence which the magistrate ought to have imposed is imprisonment for life based on the age of the victim. I will therefore interfere with the sentence. I set aside the sentence of ten years. The appellant is sentenced to imprisonment for life,” ruled judge Lucy Gitari

The indecent act happened in October 3 2014 when Macharia sent for the girl.

It was after the girl had overstayed at her grandfather that the mother decided to find out what may have caused her delay only to find her father in the act on her daughter.

Angrily, she grab her daughter from ‘the animal’ and later reported the matter to Kiangwaci Police Post.

Her daughter was then taken to Katarina Hospital for treatment.

In his defense the grandfather said that he was being fixed for an act he did not commit.

He stated that on the material day he was digging near his house when children went to play near his home.

The children damaged his sweet potatoes which angered him.

He then probed from the children who had damaged the sweet potatoes.

The children started blaming each other.

The mother of the child went and started making a lot of noise and claimed that no sweet potatoes had been damaged.

She told him it were better if he is the one who had died other than his wife.

He got annoyed and went to report the matter to the Police.

When he reached the station, he found the mother at the Police Station.

He was then arrested and charged in court.

BY SAM ALFAN.

High court Judge has disqualified himself from hearing a case in which businessman Kamlesh Pattni wants court to clear his name over involvement in the alleged misconduct that led to the sacking of Justice Joseph Mutava.

Justice John Mativo said that Judge Mutava is known to him adding that it will not be proper for him to hear and determine the matter.

“It will not be proper for me to hear the matter I therefore recuse myself, “Mativo ruled.

The matter will now be mentioned before Justice Chacha Mwita for further directions.

In the matter Pattni, argues that the tribunal that investigated Justice Mutava did not give him a chance to defend himself and went ahead to make recommendations that adversely affected his business.

He wants a declaration that the findings were a violation of his rights to be heard, and any reference to him or his businesses be expunged from the findings.

Pattni accused the tribunal of going beyond their mandate to investigate his reputation.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE.

Justice Mutava has filed a case seeking Supreme Court to quash the recommendations by a seven-member tribunal to the president Uhuru Kenyatta that he be removed from office for alleged misconduct.

“The tribunal lacked jurisdiction to conduct any investigations against the petitioner since it was unconstitutionally constituted and, therefore, any recommendations arrived at by the tribunal are void,” lawyer Philip Nyachoti says in the petition lodged in the Supreme Court yesterday.

The lawyer argued that the tribunal’s findings, which were handed over to President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 21, were based on complaints that had been voluntarily withdrawn, that the complainants did not give evidence and that third parties purported to fix him.

The tribunal concluded that three specific allegations regarding the manner in which he quashed the Sh5.7 billion criminal case against Goldenberg suspect Kamlesh Pattni had been proved since they amounted to gross misconduct.

“The judgment in the Pattni case has never been reversed by any court of law despite there being mechanisms available to any parties in the form of an appeal,” Nyachoti said in the petition.

Mutava was found culpable of having influenced retired High Court Judge Leonard Njagi to rule in favor of Sehit Investments Ltd in a Sh200million property dispute with businesswoman Josephine Onyango. The retired Judicial officer is said to have received a text message from Justice Mutava on September 6, 2012 to communicate the request.

Pattni had petitioned the High Court to terminate the case on July 26, 2012 after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, had dismissed his plea-bargain request. The Judge gave orders blocking Tobiko’s decision and suspended all criminal proceedings relating to findings by the Commission of Inquiry into the Goldenberg scandal.

The Supreme Court, once it is re-constituted, will be asked to invalidate the tribunal’s recommendations on the basis that the appointment of its members was irregular. The first five members were appointed on May 30, 2013 and the other two on June 17, 2013. The President is required to appoint the entire team within 14 days after receiving the complaints from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The High Court had restrained the tribunal from investigating the Judge on June 28, 2013 on the basis that the JSC had not accorded him a fair hearing. On February 17, 2014, the three-Judge bench declared the tribunal incompetent since two of its members had been appointed beyond the 14-day statutory deadline.

The Court of Appeal, in a judgment delivered on May 8, last year, reversed the High Court decision and directed the tribunal to carry out its mandate. Justice Mutava was aggrieved by the decision and lodged a notice of appeal to the Supreme Court on May 21, last year.

Justice Mutava, who was appointed a Judge of the High Court on August 23, 2011,was suspended on May 30, 2013 on the recommendation of theJSC after its sub-committee, chaired by Supreme Court Judge Smokin Wanjala, cleared him of eight allegations but found sufficient evidence against him on three complaints of corruption and misconduct.