Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has claimed that some governors may be using county funds to cater for election petition costs.
Speaking on NTV Tuesday morning, Khalwale said that governors may not feel the pinch of high costs of election petitions since past trends have shown that some use county funds to pay lawyers.
“As chairman of public accounts in the last parliament, I know of audit queries where governors used public funds to pay for lawyers in cases against them. In such cases, you will realise they are advantaged compared to the petitioners,” said Khalwale.
"Therefore governors can easily afford to hire a battery of lawyers in order not to lose the petitions," he added.
Khalwale further stated that the hefty fine imposed on election petitioner losers will discourage candidates from seeking justice in future elections while encouraging rigging.
“People will rig elections knowing that the cost of seeking justice will be prohibiting for petitioners, while candidates will shy away from moving to court when aggrieved by an electoral process," he said.
Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot lauded the sentiments saying high petition costs will only discourage petitioners from seeking justice.
“In Busia for instance, the petitioners were private citizens and the costs may be high for them. Chief Justice David Maraga should look into the cases of petition fines to make sure they are reasonable," said Cheruiyot.
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo, who was the lead counsel for Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong in a case challenging his election however differed with the two saying the costs are advised by the strict timelines set for election petitions by the Constitution and the number of lawyers in one case.
“Advocates spend all their time in one case because the petitions should be completed within six months as dictated by the Constitution. When you look at the high number of advocates, time spent in cases and travel costs you will realise the costs are reasonable," he said.
“The courts have in fact taken the initiative to set the fines to cap the amounts because if it was left to the lawyers to decide, the costs would be much higher," he added.
The case against Governor Ojaamong was thrown out on Monday by the Busia High Court with the petitioner being ordered to pay Sh8m in fine.
Some of the other petitioners who’ve been slapped with hefty fines include Wavinya Ndeti who was ordered to pay Sh10 million after losing her petition against Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua and Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua who has been also ordered to pay Sh10 million after losing her petition against Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.
Karua has however moved to the Court of Appeal requesting that the High Court ruling be quashed.