An Anti-corruption court has increased Kapsaret Mp Oscar Sudi’s cash bail from Sh 300,000 to Sh500, 000 as punishment for failing to appear in court on grounds that he was campaigning.

While delivering the ruling, Anti-corruption magistrate Felix Kombo said that having considered Sudi’s apology, he failed to show sufficient reasons for why he did not appear in court whereas the prosecution was ready to proceed.

“The matter was ready for hearing and a witness had travelled all the way from Bungoma to testify on that day,” the magistrate ruled.

Skipped court for campaigns

The court heard that the Legislator had skipped the hearing in order to campaign for the nominations in order to retain his parliamentary seat.

Kombo said he had fallen short of cancelling the bond altogether, but would not let Sudi go unpunished.

The magistrate said that an admission that Sudi had instead chosen to go on campaigns was spat on the courts face.

Kombo said the worst that could happen was to cancel bail but instead enhanced it from Ksh300K to Ksh500K.

Prosecutor Joseph Riungu had submitted that Sudi deliberately skipped the
court date because his cash bail was too lenient and requested the
court to impose a heftier bail term which will make him turn up next time.

Lawyer apologzes on Sudi’s behalf

Sudi’s lawyer Thomas Rutto apologized to the court, saying he did not fail to attend court deliberately but “was engaged in short notice of political nominations where he participated and he was nominated to defend his position during the August 8 2017 General Election.

The lawyer  assured court that his client will not repeat his actions and  will attend court any time he is required.

Particulars of the offence

Mp Oscar Sudi faces charges of forging his academic credentials and presenting a false declaration in the 2013 General Election.

It is alleged that on January 30 2013 at IEBC offices in Eldoret within Uasin Gishu County presented forged certificates to the electoral commission as he sought nominations.

Sudi was charged in October last year and was released on a cash bail of Sh300, 000.

Assault case against Laikipia North Member of Parliament, Mathew Lempurkel has failed to kick off for the fourth time.

The matter which was supposed to be heard today before Magistrate Hellen Onkwani was postponed to September 18^th this year as the court was not sitting due to the absence of the magistrate.

The complainant Sarah Korere who is contesting for Lempurkel seat protested against further adjournment saying that justice delayed is justice denied.

While addressing journalists outside Milimani Law Courts, Korere said that she was disappointed that the matter did not kick off again.

Female aspirants protection

The aspirant requested the government to protect women vying for different positions in the country especially those who are contesting against male politicians.

“I want to request the government to protect us because some of us are even being sent goons to intimidate us in order to back down,” said Korere

She also expresses her disappointment to the alleged hate speech remarks made by the opposition leader Raila Odinga in Kajiado County.

charges against Lempurkel

Lempurkel is alleged to have assaulted Korere who is currently a nominated MP by slapping her on the left cheek and kicked her on the lower abdomen causing her injuries.

The accused is alleged to have committed the offence willfully and unlawfully on 21 of November 2016 at Harambee house in Nairobi.

The MP denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of 100,000 or a bond of the same amount.

Lempurkel was arrested on November 23^rd and taken to the Kileleshwa Police Station a day after Korere accused him of assault.

Nyandarua County Women representative spirant Faith Gitau’s name will be on the ballot in the upcoming general elections.

This is after high court dismissed an application by her opponent the incumbent Wanjiku Muhia seeking to have her nomination nullified.

While delivering the ruling, high court judge Justice George Odunga said that the application filed by Wanjiku was incompetent.

“The application before me is incompetent and I therefore dismiss it with costs,” ruled Justice Odunga.

In the case, Muhia had gone to the high court claiming that Jubilee Party did not conduct a repeat exercise in accordance with the constitution as ordered by the court of appeal.

In the application, Muhia stated that instead of the jubilee party  conducting fresh polls as directed by the appellate court,  it went ahead to employ an ambiguous system to nominate Faith Gitau.

“The appellate court had nullified the nomination of Faith Gitau on account that the exercise was not free and fair and that the nomination was not done in accordance with the jubilee party rules,” said Muhia.

The court of appeal had on June 6th directed Jubilee party to conduct fresh nominations for woman representative in Nyandarua County.

The appellate judges had overturned a judgment of the High Court that had reinstated Gitau’s nomination after the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal handed the party ticket to Muhia.

The battle began after the nomination held on April 26, Gitau had 106,004 votes against Muhia who had 75,296.

Muhia rejected the results and lodged a complaint before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT), which nullified Gitau’s win.

Gitau then moved to the High Court to challenge the PPDT decision, where the tribunal’s ruling was dismissed.

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Wiper Gubernatorial aspirant Wavinya Ndeti will now her fate next week when the high court will deliver a ruling on whether her nomination will be nullified on grounds of party hopping.

High court judge Justice George Odunga made the declaration after the inter-party hearing of an appeal by Wavinya.

In their submissions, IEBC maintained that Wavinya did not resign from Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU) before joining the Wiper Democratic Movement as required by the law.

IEBC lawyer Paul Nyamodi argued that she was gulty of party hoping and therefore not eligible to be nominated by any party to contest in any seat in the upcoming general elections.

“The grounds made by Wavinya in this case including that of legitimate expectations have not be proved and for those reasons the application for judicial review should be dismissed with costs,” Nyamodi submitted.

He added that as of the date of the purported resignation, that is April 6^th 2017, Wavinya was still a member of CCU.

In their submission IEBC further told the court that Wavinya only became a member of Wiper Party on the April 24^th 2017 when CCU entered into a coalition agreement with wiper party.

In her submissions through her lawyer, Wavinya questioned the jurisdiction of the IEBC committee to determine the question of party membership saying that the powers to determine membership is vested on the political parties Dispute Tribunal.

She further told the court that IEBC had no jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter filed before the electoral commission committee.

She also submitted that IEBC was a wrong forum for the petitioner to raise his complaint against Wavinya Ndeti.

She further submitted that the MCA was not a candidate during the nomination process adding that he came in at the last minute as a busy body adding that the only avenue for him was to appeal against the decision at the high court not IEBC.

She urged Justice Odunga to quash the IEBC committee decision that barred her from contesting in the August polls.

Jubilee Party Nakuru County Senetorial aspirant Susan Kihika’s name will be on the ballot come August 8^th after high court nullified a decision by the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal (PPDT) that nullified her nomination.

While delivering the judgment, high court judge Justice George Odunga ruled that the PPDT had no Jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter.

Justice Odunga further ruled that the tribunal and the subordinate court must act within their ranks and mandate to ensure proper administration of justice.

“The judicial hierarchy of courts and tribunals is very clear in this country and it is important that the tribunal appreciate their rank in the judicial ladder,” the judge ruled.

Odunga added that the dispute that was before the tribunal was between an independent candidate and a nominee of a political party hence not a dispute that the tribunal can resolve.

“I have no doubt in my mind that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to embark on the hearing of this petition. This proceedings had been stopped by this court and so the decision rendered after that was unlawful and was tainted by illegality,” ruled Odunga.

Kihika had moved to court to challenge the decision of PPDT to bar her from contesting for the Nakuru senatorial seat over allegations that she did not resign from her position at the County Assembly on time as required by law.

The tribunal had ruled that Kihika’s candidature was unconstitutional and that she was ineligible for the August 8 poll as she is still in office as the Speaker of Nakuru County Assembly.

Article 99 of the Constitution states that a candidate who is still a member of the county assembly cannot vie before resigning.

The petition against Kihika was filed by Nominated MCA Margaret Wanjiru Kiiru who is also vying for the seat as an independent candidate.