Senior Counsels Paul Muite and PLO Lumumba who have been dropped from the list of lawyers who will represent IEBC in the new Supreme Court presidential petition. [Photo: plive.co.ke]Senior Counsels Paul Muite and PLO Lumumba were on Tuesday dropped from the list of lawyers who will represent the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in the fresh petitions filed against President Uhuru Kenyatta following his October 26 presidential victory.Speculations have been rife why the two authoritative lawyers were dropped with many citing 'poor defence strategy' by the duo in the petition filed by Raila Odinga following Kenyatta's victory in August 8 poll, as announced by the poll agency.It is said that the duo couldn't simply match 'the legal brilliance of NASA’s team' which was led by another senior counsel, James Orengo who is also the Siaya Senator.While this could be true, the Star reports that this may not be why the two were fired."We are told the IEBC felt that the two were out of touch with matters technology and retaining them as lead lawyers were going to affect the team’s performance," says the Star.It adds: "IEBC is now relying on young and tech-savvy assistants to put together the relevant defence so that they can demolish all the arguments presented before the court."The so-called tech-savvy team of eight lawyers will be led by Waweru Gatonye. Others include Kamau Karori, Eric Gumbo, George Murugu, Wambua Kilonzo, Kimani Muhoro, Mahat Somane and Lucy Kambuni.The IEBC had in the August 8 election picked Senior Counsel Muite as its lead lawyer while Lumumba acted for the commission’s chair Wafula Chebukati.Lumumba was widely accused of 'speaking too much English' which added no value to the case, while Muite is said to have surprised the court when he offered no objection to Orengo’s request to access the physical forms 34A and 34B, which eventually led to the nullification of the presidential election.

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