KENYA: Supreme Court fails to hear poll delay petition over quorum hitch

Kenya’s Supreme Court has failed to hear a petition seeking to postpone Thursday’s presidential election citing lack of quorum.

The President of the Court Justice David Maraga said Wednesday only himself and another judge were present rendering the hearing impracticable. Deputy Chief president Lady Justice Philomena Mwilu’s body guard was shot at Tuesday evening and later succumbed to his injuries. As a result, Maraga said, she was not able to attend today’s hearing. Apart from Justice Ibrahim Mohamed who has been undergoing medical treatment, Maraga said the rest of the judges could not be present without citing reasons.

The Court was to declare whether elections would take place tomorrow following a petition by three voters. The failure by the Court to hear the petition now paves way for the controversial poll which has seen a major contender Raila Odinga pull out.

The High Court also this morning declared all the returning officers for tomorrow’s poll were illegally gazetted.

The opposition, NASA has declared it will go on with protests while maintaining there will be no elections tomorrow. Heavily guarded vehicles could be seen in opposition strongholds delivering ballot papers ahead of opening of the polls 6am local time tomorrow.

The Commonwealth Observer team pulled out of the East Africa country Tuesday citing security concerns while the European Union observer said it will reduce the number of observers and only focus on tallying and transmission of results.