Former Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu opposes Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero’s Sh40m demand

By WILFRED AYAGA

Former Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu has opposed demands by Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero that he pays him Sh40 million as costs of the election petition that he filed against him last year.

Waititu, who lost the Nairobi gubernatorial seat to Kidero, has dismissed the bill of costs filed by Kidero in the High Court in which he wants to be refunded the money he paid to lawyers who defended him in the petition against him.

In his court papers, Waititu accuses Kidero of inflating the costs and says that they are unjustifiable.

Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, the former MP argues that the court cannot order him to pay the money, which is in excess of what the election court had initially asked him to pay.

“At the outset, this honourable court is divested of jurisdiction to award any sum in excess of Sh2.5 million as awarded in gross by the election court in the judgment delivered on September 10,” Waititu says.

In the bill of costs served on Waititu, Kidero’s lawyers have cited various expenditures incurred by their client.

“The bill takes into account remuneration structure for State officers in Kenya, specifically the Governor and Deputy Governor as proposed by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission,” they say.

 Under the Advocates Act, the fees charged on costs should be based on nature and importance of the applications, complexity and time spent by the advocates. If the cost is entered against the party at the conclusion of the petition, one bears the cost of the other party in addition to its own. However, judges may decide each party bears its own legal costs.

The former MP is also staring at another Sh10 million bill slapped on him by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Returning Officer at the National Tallying Centre Isaac Hassan and the Nairobi County Returning Officer. The three were parties to the suit in which Waititu had opposed Kidero’s election.

Waititu says that Kidero’s lawyers should either amend the bill of costs or appeal the order of the petition court.

“Accordingly, the said items cannot qualify for award. The applicants have not justified why they should claim a sum already captured by the election court,” Waititu says.

Kidero was represented in the petition by lawyer Tom Ojienda.