The Court of Appeal has instructed the lobby groups filing an appeal against the High Court ruling on the next election date to take a fresh hearing date from the court registry depending on the diary of the court.
The three bench court of appeal judges comprising of presiding Judge Samuel Bosire, Justice Kalpana Rawal and Justice Erastus Githinji in their ruling argued that a new hearing date will enable them to have gone through the high court ruling on the date of the next election.
Justice Bosire noted that it would be important for the bench to read and understand the High Court ruling that set two options for the next general election before hearing the appeal.
Additionally the bench instructed the interested parties to file subsequent affidavits arguing that the parties have argumentative issues.
The lobby groups that include the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness {CREAW} and Caucus for Women Leadership wanted the appeal court to clarify the exact date of the election as the high court failed to settle on a specific date.
The High Court had set two options for the next general election, the first one being within 60 days from the date the national coalition is dissolved, while the second would be after expiry of parliament’s term on the 14th January 2013.
Earlier on during the hearing Lawyer Kibe Mungai representing the International Centre for Research and Governance {ICRG}, an interested party in the case, had filed a preliminary objection to the appeal court arguing that the applicant before the court had no right of appeal.
Mungai argued that parties entitled to an appeal are parties in the application for enforcement of fundamental rights. He further said the court had no jurisdiction to initiate the interpretation of the constitution in the court of appeal saying the Supreme Court has the final say on the issue.
Mungai added that it would be prejudicial for the application case to be heard before the preliminary objection is addressed.
While responding the lobby group’s lawyer Stephen Mwenesi proposed that the preliminary objection is dealt with as the primary opposition to the appeal due to the urgency of the matter.
On his part lawyer Stephen Njiru, a friend of the court in the appeal case, said the preliminary objection should be heard first as it has weighty questions about the law so as to uphold the spirit of the constitution.
