Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Wafula Chebukati [PHOTO/the-star.co.ke]
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has said it is unable to procure presidential ballot printing papers by August 8 should the court uphold the ruling that terminated IEBC's contract with Al Ghurair.
The court was also warned by Attorney General Githu Muigai that there was no cure for “the profound dominoe effect of skipping the presidential poll because it is a recipe for government shutdown and social anarchy”.
In a spirited fight to overturn last week’s High Court decision that cancelled the printing of presidential ballot papers, Muigai warned that Kenya could plunge into a constitutional and political crisis.
“There is no provision in the Constitution that spells out what should happen if a presidential election is not held on August 8,” he said.
Appeal judges Otieno Odek, Alnassir Visram, Jamilla Mohamed, Festus Githinji and Roselyn Nambuye were told that should the IEBC have to follow orders of the lower court, it will need 50 more days to have the voting papers.
“We will not have presidential ballot papers if we do not start printing on Tuesday as it had been envisaged,” the judges heard.