By MICHAEL WESONGA
The High Court in Kitale granted an order stopping the swearing-in of Nominated Ford-Kenya Senator Catherine Mukite Nobwola Thursday.
The order was a response to an urgent petition filed by Orie Rogo Manduli questioning the illegality and unconstitutional nature of the swearing-in. “The action by the second respondent is highly illegal, unconstitutional, ultra-vires and will occasion great loss and prejudice as the person who has been gazetted is the wrong one,” read the certificate of urgency.
The petition lists Ms Nobwola as the first respondent while the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Ford-Kenya and the Clerk to the Senate the second, third and fourth respondents.
They petitioner had sought conservatory orders restraining IEBC from forwarding the name of Nobwola to the fourth respondent for swearing-in pending the inter-partes hearing of the application.
Manduli’s lawyer Katama Ngeywa and Company successfully convinced Judge Fred Ochieng presiding on behalf of his Kitale counterpart in Eldoret that she was the bonafide nominee for Ford-Kenya to Senate.
He said: “The petitioner’s name was top on the list of nominees for the Senate and was duly recommended by the Trans-Nzoia County Ford-Kenya leadership.”
In a sworn affidavit on March 24, Ford-Kenya Trans-Nzoia County chairman John Wambaya claimed that Nobwola was a stranger to Ford-Kenya and her nomination cannot be justified at all.
Justice Ochieng ordered IEBC not to forward the name of Nobwola to the Clerk of the Senate for swearing-in. “This order shall remain in place until April 10 when the application will be argued inter-partes before the judge in Kitale,” he ordered.
