The IEBC has castigated a High Court decision that nullified the election of Ugenya Constituency MP Christopher Karan.
Karan moved to the Court of Appeal after Justice Thrispisa Cherere annulled his election following a petitioned lodged to the trial court by former area MP David Ochieng’.
Ochieng’ claimed that Karan used a smearing and derogatory campaign strategy which in the end changed the electoral terrain against him.
Through its lawyer, Raymond Olendo, the IEBC maintained that the High Court never granted Karan an audience and that his constitutional right of getting a fair trial from the election court was continuously trampled upon.
“His name was struck out from a suit challenging his election as MP. The court went ahead and annulled his election without even giving him chance to speak or even cross-examine the witnesses who testified against him,” said Olendo.
Timothy Kajwang’, the lawyer representing Karan, argued that his client was kicked out from being a party to the case owing to the fact that he presented himself late. He, however, insisted that the reason was not significant enough to disallow him from taking part in the case.
“My client was also sick and admitted in the hospital by the time his contender advertised a notice for the appeal and that is why he responded 12 days past the required timeline,” said Kajwang’.
Kanjwang’ nonetheless maintained that though his client turned up for the case 12 days later, his dismissal was ill-advised since he was still within the six months period constitutionally provided for the hearing and determination of election-related suits.
In his defence, Ochieng’, through advocate Richard Kwach, claimed that the Judge was right to dismiss Karan’s election alleging that he presented falsified documents to the court.
“He presented forged documents to the Judge. When we launched an investigation to determine whether he was really admitted to a hospital, we established that the letter from the said health facility was a fake,” stated Kwach.
He added that his client had also served the trial court with sufficient evidence to show that the Karan’s election was shrouded in malice and total abuse of the constitution.
For instance, he singled out an event where he claimed Karan and other ODM associated leaders referred to his client as a Jubilee party mole, and that he also had hand in the murder of IEBC's technology boss Chris Musando.
The appeal was heard by Justice Erastus Githinji, Justice Hanna Okwengu and Justice Jamila Mohammed. They ordered that the judgement of the case will be delivered on July 17