The Petition challenging the election of Pokot south MP David Pkossing has been thrown out by the Kapenguria High Court. Judge Stephen Githinji in his ruling stated that the petition was filed past the stipulated time.
The Judge pointed out that the law is explicit that he doesn’t have the discretion to expand the time and the jurisdiction to hear such a petition.
The petitioner, Stephen Kolimuk, filed the petition on 11th September 2017 alongside a notice of motion seeking to extend the time to allow him to file his petition out of the statutory allowed time, which is in 28 days after the declaration of the election results by the IEBC.
The petitioner had mentioned IEBC, Juma Mugwanga (returning officer) and David Pkossing as the first, second, and third respondents respectively.
The third respondent, MP Pkossing, in his notice of preliminary objection dated 23rd September 2017, based on the grounds that the application is fatally defective, incompetent and an abuse of due process of the law in that it offends the provision of Article 87(2) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, which provides that the petitions covering an election, other than a Presidential election, shall be filed within 28 days after the declaration of election results by IEBC.
He further stated that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the application to extend time and the court to dismiss the case with costs.
“The preliminary objection is therefore merited. The petition and the notice of motion dated 11th September 2017 are struck out with the cost of Kshs 2 million and to be shared by both respondents,” said the Judge