39 judges picked for poll petitions

PHOTO | MACHARIA MWANGI Some of the judicial officers taking part in a workshop that brought together judges and magistrates who will hear election petitions at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha during the lunch break on April 22, 2013.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com AND MACHARIA MWANGI machariamwangi2008@gmail.com
Posted  Monday, April 22  2013 at  23:30

 

The Judiciary on Monday warned of “significant disruption” of court operations after 98 judges and magistrates were picked to hear more than 180 election petitions.

The team comprises 39 judges picked from a total of 53 to hear 115 petitions filed in the High Court, leaving only 14 judges to handle other High Court matters.

A further 59 magistrates have been selected from a pool of 408 to hear 68 petitions on County Assembly seats.

“In consideration of the high number of judges and magistrates who will be involved in handling election petitions, the Judiciary wishes to inform Kenyans that there will be significant disruption of normal court business,” Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei said in a statement.

The names of the 98 judges and magistrates have been published in a special issue of the Kenya Gazette dated April 19.

The law stipulates that parliamentary and county electoral disputes be concluded six months after being filed.

“The Judicial Service Commission is in the process of recruiting more judges and magistrates,” she added.

On Monday, Judiciary Working Committee on Election Preparations Vice-Chairman David Maraga said 116 of the election petition cases would be heard in the High Court.

He also expressed fear that the high number of judges assigned to hear the petitions might interfere “with other court cases” since the number of judges in the country stood at 53.

“We are appealing to the litigants and the general public to bear with us as we expedite with petition cases which have a constitutional timeline,” Mr Justice Maraga told journalists during a workshop in Naivasha on Monday.

He said some of the judges had been given between three and four cases, adding that the Chief Justice had no choice given the small number of judges.

The Constitution has set timelines within which the petitions must be heard and concluded.

Mr Justice Maraga, however, said the expected hiring of 40 new judges would help clear the backlog of  some of the cases.

He said the biggest challenge the judicial officers might face is “scrutinising” votes, terming the process “tedious”.

During the plenary session, some of the judicial officers said given the limited space in most of the courtrooms, it would be a tall order to find space to keep the ballot boxes.

Speaking after officially opening the workshop, Supreme Court judge Mohamed Ibrahim said the March 4 election took place in a “complex” political contest and it was anticipated it would be strongly disputed.

He said the successful handling of the nomination disputes served to cement the ability of the Judiciary to be an impartial and effective arbiter in the election disputes.