Reprieve for Sonko as Supreme Court strikes out application opposing appeal

The Supreme Court has dismissed an application by Nairobi County Assembly seeking to dismiss Mike Sonko’s appeal.

Judges Smoking Wanjala ,Njoki Ndung’u and William Ouko struck out the application which argued the appeal was filed out of time.

“Having therefore considered the motion, preliminary objection plus responses thereto, we must dismiss the motion and overrule the preliminary objection,” ruled the judges.

The County Assembly termed the appeal as incompetent, null, void and of no legal consequence for allegedly being filed out of time.

However, the Supreme Court Registrar Letizia Wachira stated that the affidavit filed by the Nairobi County Governor Anne Kananu to the effect that the appeal was filed out of time does not hold.

In a letter to parties set to appear before the top court for the hearing of Sonko’s appeal, the Registrar said the appeal was filed on 4th April and presented at the court’s registry on 20th May 2022.

“Kindly note that this appeal was lodged in our online system on the 4th of April 2022. The hardcopy of the petition was presented to the registry on 20th May 2022 and our ICT officers have checked our online filing system and confirmed that there has been no change or attempt to change the filing date,” the Supreme Court Registrar added.

Sonko is challenging his impeachment as Nairobi County Governor.