APPEAL

In a race against time, government chief whip George Thuo has filed a notice of appeal against a ruling that sent him packing as Juja MP last Friday.

The notice, filed at the Milimani Commercial courts, came on Monday just days after a court ruling nullified his election.

In his decision, Justice Luka Kimaru said that Mr Thuo was not validly elected as Juja MP owing to massive irregularities committed by the disbanded Electoral Commission of Kenya.

The Judge faulted ECK in the manner it handled the election saying there was blatant disregard of the rules and the outcome did not pass credibility test.

Justice Kimaru, however, absolved Mr Thuo of blame and asked the electoral body to pay the costs of the suit to the petitioner William Kabogo.

Meanwhile, in another petition, Justice Kimaru warned witnesses against telling lies in court. Testifying in court, a witness in Wajir South petition Mohamed Abdille kept changing his position during cross-examination.

It was Mr Abdille’s testimony that voters were bribed at Diif primary school on the polling day.

But when cross-examined, the witness could not tell how much and the identity of the person he allegedly saw bribing voters.

The witness also claimed that ballot papers for presidential, parliamentary and civic were stuffed in one box but when asked to table evidence, he could not back his allegations.

It was at this point that Mr Kimaru warned Mr Abdille that he would be cited for perjury if he kept changing his stories.

Another witness claimed that voting went on past 1a.m. adding that the exercise was disrupted for three hours following complaints of bribery in the same station.

Mr Abdi Dool also accused agents of shouting only two names of candidates vying the parliamentary seat and assisting them to fill the ballots.

The witness said that the agents “scrambled” for voters immediately they entered the polling station.

EARLIER STORY

A group of elders yesterday criticised politicians for turning a healing meeting into a forum for debate on the proposed constitution.
Prof Gilbert Ogutu, the secretary general of the Luo Council of Elders, said the issue at hand was the reconciliation agenda and not a "Yes or No issue."

"Don't take us to politics. We didn't come here to discuss the constitution and the Yes or No campaigns," he said.
Take the lead Prof Ogutu spoke at the inaugural National Elders Conference, shortly after Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo asked the elders, who are on a mission to promote national cohesion, to take the lead in civic education.

President Kibaki will today open the conference at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi.

The elders want a National Council of Elders entrenched in the country's laws to give them a formal platform to preach national unity.

Earlier, the VP and Mr Kilonzo had asked the elders to come up with a position on the draft law.