Robert Kemei (left) at the High Court in Eldoret Court. He petitioned Alfred Keter's poll win. [File, Standard]
High cost of election petitions has left many poll losers licking their wounds after being slapped with hefty legal costs.
In Trans Nzoia, Jonas Kuko was sentenced to serve a two-month jail term for failing to pay his lawyer Sh5.4 million in a petition challenging the election of Caleb Amisi as Saboti MP in 2017.
Kitale Senior Resident Magistrate Cherono Kesse convicted Kuko on May 25, 2021, to serve the jail term at Kitale Main Prison.
Kuko had contested for the Saboti seat in 2013 on United Republic Party ticket, but lost to Wafula Lazaro of New Ford Kenya by a margin of 266 votes.
In 2017, Kuko, then a Jubilee Party candidate, suffered yet another defeat when Amisi of ODM won the contest. Amisi garnered 19,935 votes against Kuko’s 18,653 votes.
Unsatisfied with the results, Koku moved to court to seek nullification of Amisi’s victory.
The court capped the cost of the suit at Sh2 million for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Sh2 million for Amisi.
Unfortunately, taxes increased the cost to Sh3.1 million for IEBC and Sh2.9 million for Amisi, according to court documents.
Kuko lodged an appeal against the cost of the awards, but the court upheld the ruling.
According to Kuko, he was to pay his lawyer Peter Kiarie Sh2 million but he claimed that the Sh2 million was instructional fee and additional Sh3.4 million was taxation and legal fee.
Koku had paid the lawyer Sh725,000 out of the initial agreed fee of Sh2 million.
The lawyer discharged himself from representing Kuko and sought Sh8 million for services rendered.
After back and forth, he sought the jailing of his former client to enforce the court order.
Kuko was arrested and jailed at Kitale Main prison for 21 days after he was unable to raise the fee demanded by the lawyer.
His family and well-wishers, including Deputy President William Ruto, came to his rescue after they raised money to bail him out.
Sh2 million was raised; Sh1.5 million was paid to the lawyer while Sh500,000 was remitted as part payment to the electoral agency.
Koku told The Standard that he had negotiated with Amisi to settle the issue outside court.
“I negotiated with the MP, and we agreed to sort the matter out of court,” Kuko told The Standard.
Kuko criticised the heavy fines imposed by the court on petitions, arguing it will discourage politicians from seeking justice.
Bernard Kitur, who contested in Nandi Hills constituency but lost to Alfred Keter, told The Standard that petition costs are too high.
“The costs prohibit the underprivileged from accessing justice. Filing an election petition costs not less than Sh500,000, an amount that a majority of the citizens cannot raise. This way, justice becomes a preserve of the rich people,” claimed Kitur.
He complained that the cost slapped on petition losers also discourage people aggrieved by election outcome from seeking justice in court.
Kitur recounted that when the Court of Appeal ordered that he pays Sh6 million to IEBC and his rival Keter, he became emotionally tortured because he had no means to pay the amount.
“I had paid Sh500,000 while filing the petition in court and the balance that I had to clear was Sh5.5 million. Where was I as a young man to get such an amount of money? If the case was to continue, then it could have driven me to bankruptcy or I could have been arrested and jailed for failing to honour a court decision,” explained Kitur.
The court verdict even forced Kitur to come up with a paybill number, requesting for financial assistance from the public to help him raise the amount.
Luckily for him, he went to the Supreme Court and requested to have the decision dismissed on grounds that he was acting in the public interest. Kitur had enjoyed brief victory after High Court judge Kanyi Kimondo nullified Keter’s victory on March 1, 2018, and ordered Keter to pay him Sh1 million.
However, appeal judges Erastus Githinji, Jamilah Mohammed and Hannah Okwengu ruled that Keter was validly elected and slapped Kitur with the Sh6 million fine. The amount will be shared equally between IEBC and Keter.
The electoral commission declared Keter of Jubilee the winner in the August 2017 General Election. He garnered 28,923 votes against Kitur’s 13,872 votes.
