Court Dismisses Alleged Election Interference Case Against Military Chief Francis Ogolla
On Friday, High Court Judge Lawrence Nthiga Mugambi rejected a petition alleging that Chief of Defence Forces General Francis Ogolla and three others had tried to manipulate the results of the 2022 presidential election.
Irene Masit, a former commissioner of the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC), filed a petition alleging that the military leader and two others visited the commissioners at Bomas prior to the announcement of the results on August 9, 2022.
“It is stated that this delegation exerted pressure on the commissioners to change the outcome of the Presidential election,” reads part of the court documents.
Masit aimed to involve Ogolla and the two others in this legal action as relevant parties. She stressed the importance of their inclusion in order to address the accusations effectively.
The petition named the tribunal of Justice Aggrey Muchelule as the primary respondent, with the Attorney General designated as the secondary respondent.
The tribunal contended that adding the three individuals did not contribute to resolving the concerns raised in the initial petition.
“The application is an ill attempt to impugn the legal appointments of the intended interested parties to their respective positions,” read part of the court documents.
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Nevertheless, the High Court judge rejected the petition, stating that Masit had not substantiated the claim that the purported coercion originated from Ogolla or either of the two officials.
Justice Nthiga declared that involving the three individuals in the lawsuit would lead to the court engaging in fruitless and conjectural proceedings.
“In any case, the application in itself does not in the remotest sense meet the test of joinder. The Petitioner has not demonstrated how the orders she is seeking will affect the three named persons and hence the need to join them as interested parties in this Petition,” the judge ruled.
Masit is one of the four commissioners from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) who contested the outcomes declared by the former IEBC Chairperson, Wafula Chebukati.
Chebukati announced William Ruto as Kenya’s fifth president following a tough battle against his rival Raila Odinga.
The four commissioners, who eventually resigned, departed from Bomas while the announcement was ongoing and convened a separate media session chaired by Juliana Cherera, along with Justus Nyang’aya and Francis Wanderi.
Court Dismisses Alleged Election Interference Case Against Military Chief Francis Ogolla
