The judiciary has been accused of slapping hefty and unreasonable fines to those who lost election petitions they filed against winners of various political seats across the country.
Nakuru-based lawyer Bernard Kipngetich said that the heavy fines are 'unjustifiable, colossal and astronomical'.
He added that the fines are 'unreasonable and unmanageable' for most of the petition losers.
“It beats logic for a petition loser who also lost an election to be fined Sh12 million in costs after his/her petition has been struck out by the courts,” Said Kipngetich.
According to the lawyer, who is also a council member of the Law Society of Kenya, the fines by the courts will be a hindrance to justice access.
“How do you pay Sh12 million after losing a petition? This then means that very few Kenyans will be able to access justice,” he said.
He added: "Anything above Sh5 million is way excessive and cannot be justified.”
He called on the chief justice and the law society of Kenya to engage and standardize fees for election petitions to protect the right to access to justice especially for the common voters who file petitions.