Azimio la Umoja’s petition at the Supreme Court against President-elect William Ruto should be dismissed with prejudice and the names of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners Juliana Cherera, Abdi Guliye, Boya Molu, Justus Nyang’aya, Francis Wanderi, and Irene Massit should be removed.
According to Josphat Nanok, director of campaigns for the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), and Prof. Kithure Kindiki, attorney for President-elect Ruto.
Kindiki and Nanok claimed in a motion submitted pursuant to an urgent certificate dated August 27, 2022 that the six could not be added individually as respondents in the Azimio suit since the August 9 General Election was conducted by the IEBC and not by specific commissioners.
The IEBC is divided into two groups, which pit Cherera, Wanderi, Massit, and Nyang’aya against Chebukati, Guliye, and Molu. The latter assert that the election of August 9 was fraudulent since some elements of the electoral procedure were unclear. claims that the four dissenters who repudiated the presidential results conspired to thwart the will of the people are refuted by the Chebukati-led side.
Kindiki believes that IEBC vice-chair Cherera, Massit, Wanderi, and Nyang’aya are at odds with IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and plan to use his response to promote charges, fresh assertions, and innuendoes that are only meant to harm Ruto.
Kindiki asserts that the four commissioners are proxies who have been ordered to make second-tier petitioners while disguising themselves as responders in violation of Article 140 of the Constitution.
The deadline for responses is for all responders to submit their responses simultaneously. As a result, the ninth respondent [Ruto] will not be given the chance to address the second-tier claims made by the third through sixth respondents. The right to a fair trial granted to the 9th respondent under Article 25(C) will be irreparably damaged, declared Kindiki.
Nanok stated in his affidavit that grievances between commissioners should not be included in such a petition and that Article 140 envisions a clear and succinct matter that challenges the election of the President-elect and Deputy President-elect.
I understand that the third through sixth respondents are uneasy about the election victory of the ninth respondent [Ruto]; in fact, these commissioners have openly voiced their opposition to the
The respondents, Juliana Cherera, Abdi Guliye, Boya Molu, Justus Nyang’aya, Francis Wanderi, and Irene Massit, must be dismissed, and any pleas they submitted must be wiped from the record, claims Nanok.
In light of this, Nanok claimed that “the four commissioners are in actuality petitioners and/or proxies of the petitioners cleverly included to be part of the respondents so as to compromise the 9th respondent’s defense.”
