[Opposition leader Raila Odinga carrying affidavits to the Supreme Court. The Apex court now wants parliament to review duration of hearing and determining such cases. Photo/Standard]
Parties filing presidential petitions in future could have an easy time to come for strong cases if at all recommendations by the Supreme Court will be implemented.
Currently, the strict timeline provision under article 140 has not only been challenging to legal teams involved but also to the jury in terms of crafting reasoned judgments.
But on Wednesday, Chief Justice David Maraga appealed to the legislator to amend the clause by extending the timeline that is favorable.
“As you are aware, it is difficult to listen to all presentations and compile a reasoned judgment within 14 days and that is why we had issued a summery,” he said.
Maraga further added:”The legislator should work in a manner that the article is amended to even give reasonable time so that we can even handle scrutiny of recounting of votes.”
In 2013, Retired Chief Justice Willy Mutunga also gave a summarized version of presidential petition, a move that sparked protest within legal fraternities.
Unlike him, Maraga gave a fairly detained summary in the 2017 edition which he later on delivered as a whole after 20 days.