The High court in Embu on Thursday held pre-trial proceedings on two separate petitions challenging the election of Leonard Wa Muthende as MP for the Mbeere North Constituency.
The two petitions are seeking to invalidate the declaration of Wa Muthende as MP with the first petition filed by two voters who are seeking to overturn his win over alleged misrepresentation of his legal identity.
The petitioners, Julieta Karigi and Patrick Gitonga, allege inconsistent identities by the MP named as the first respondent, where he is alleged to have changed his identity before nominations from Leonard Muriuki Njeru to Leo Wa Muthende Njeru.
They argued that despite the name change, the IEBC did not make any effort to update the name in the KIEMS kit, candidates register, ballot papers and nomination documents, which continued to bear the former names.
The other petition has been filed by Newton Karish, who was a contestant in the by-election and lost to Wa Muthende.
He is seeking to invalidate his win on the alleged identity misrepresentation and other electoral irregularities, including rigging and voter bribery.
During the pre-trial conference before Judge Richard Mwongo, the petitioners sought to have the IEBC compelled to drop its lawyer, who is a private practitioner, arguing that there was an existing order barring private law firms from representing public entities in court cases.
Lead Counsel for the petitioners, Kiragu Thuita argued that the order was issued at the High court in Nakuru, barring public bodies from procuring services of an external counsel as long as there are legal officers within that institution.
Justice Mwongo asked the petitioners to file a formal application in relation to the matter on Friday and also serve the respondents.
The court also sought to consolidate the two petitions into one, given that the issues in the two were of a similar nature, with petitioners being given time to engage their legal team and report back to the court on the matter.
By Samuel Waititu
