The Supreme Court has dismissed all election petitions filed by Martha Karua against Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.
The court delivered the ruling on Thursday in Nairobi, saying that all election matters were concluded in the Supreme Court judgement of August 6, 2019.
Governor Waiguru had moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision to remit Karua’s election petition to the High Court for hearing on merit even after it had been dismissed.
Kerugoya High Court Judge Lucy Gitari had earlier dismissed Karua’s petition on the grounds that it lacked merit.
In the latest ruling, Justices Philomena Mwilu, Mohammed Ibrahim, Njoki Ndung’u, Smokin Wanjala and Isaac Lenaola agreed with Governor Waiguru that the issues raised by Karua were the same as those raised in petition No. 3 of 2019.
The court determined that the issues were fully determined in the same court’s ruling delivered on March 2, 2018, which advised parties to follow the normal appellate mechanism in addressing their grievances.
Waiguru had argued that the High Court had no jurisdiction to hear and determine Karua’s election petition after the lapse of the six months prescribed by Article 87(1) of the Constitution and Section 75(2) of the Elections Act.
“A declaration be and is hereby issued that the issues raised in Petition No. 5 of 2018: Hon. Anne Mumbi Waiguru and another vs. Hon. Martha Wangari Karua and two others were fully determined by this Honourable Court in its judgment delivered on 6th August 2019 in Petition No. 3 of 2019: Hon. Martha Wangari Karua vs. Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and three others,” the five judges said.
The Supreme Court also rejected Karua’s attempts to obtain costs for the case from Waiguru on the initial Court of Appeal case where she had been awarded costs. The judges ruled that since Karua had lost the other eight petition cases against the governor and each party should bear its own costs.
The ruling marks the eighth decision that has been rendered by the courts on the Kirinyaga election petition.
