Agano party leader David Waihiga Mwaure will not participate in the presidential election petition, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The seven judges of the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined Mwaure's request to be enjoined in the petition by Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga who is challenging William Ruto's win.
"None of the intended interested party’s averments demonstrate the prejudice he will suffer if he was not enjoined. It is also our finding, that the arguments he proposes to make can be adequately argued by other parties in the petition."
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"The application dated August 26, 2022, and filed on August 27, 2022, seeking joinder of David Waihiga Mwaure as an interested party to this petition is hereby dismissed. There shall be no orders as to cost," Supreme Court Judges led by Chief Justice Martha Koome ruled.
The move comes after Raila Odinga's lawyers asked the Supreme court to dismiss an application by Agano Mwaure to be enjoined as an interested party in the petition.
They had informed the court that the Agano leader is a surrogate petitioner for president-elect Ruto and that he has no credible grounds for being allowed into the case.
The lawyers say the application by Mwaure is incompetent and bad in law and that he has no demonstrable prejudice that he would suffer if he was omitted.
Mwaure applies to be enjoined in presidential election petition
Mwaure had applied to be enjoined in the petition on August 26, citing his candidature in the August 9 polls.
The gist of his argument in the case was for the court to dismiss the petition, supporting IEBC’s stance that the declaration of Ruto’s win was valid and credible.
Mwaure had conceded the race on August 14, just a day before the poll agency declared Ruto president-elect.
He had also declared support for the Deputy President even before the race was called.
But the Azimio preliminary objection says the man is a partisan player with no credible value to the petition and that his participation was out to distract the court.
“Based on past partisan pronouncements by the interested party that are in public knowledge, the interested party is seeking to join these proceedings as a surrogate of some of the respondents herein with an aim to prop up their case for dismissal of the petition…”
The lawyers say that on the claimed basis, the application by Mwaure “offends the principle for rejoinder of parties as pronounced by this court in the case of Trusted Society of Human Rights Alliance v Mumo Matemu & 5 others..”
They also complain that Mwaure has not cited any legal basis for the court to consider enjoining him in the proceedings as an interested party.
The application is therefore bad in law and an abuse of court process, it declares, urging the apex court to dismiss it with costs to the petitioner.
