Why Maraga showed rare anger during today's Supreme Court hearing
A visible angered Maraga put two lawyers on the spot over irregular evidence.
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The hearing which was presided over by Chief Justice David Maraga, started on a heated note as lawyers debated preliminary issues.
Among the issues discussed in the Status conference was the question on whether certain documents that were filed after the constitutional deadline should be admitted in the case.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s team had also called for some evidence to be struck out, including the famous memo written by IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati to his CEO Ezra Chiloba.
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Kenyatta’s legal team argued that the memo should be struck out on the account that it was irregularly obtained and could not be authenticated.
However, the highlight of the hearing was on the argument regarding late submission of some documents filed by activists Khelef Khalifa and Njonjo Mue.
The activists’ lawyer Julie Sowetto had defended the late submission by claiming that the petitioners were asked to complete filing of court documents after the Supreme Court registrar got tired of stamping the bulky documents and asked them to come the next day (after the deadline).
The Chief Justice sought a clarification after he indicated that the judges had been informed that six sets of documents were received on the 7 of November after the constitutional deadline of November 6.
A visibly angered Maraga had to summon the Supreme Court deputy registrar to explain if it was true that he got tired of stamping documents and allowed the petitioners to leave with the files.
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The registrar maintained that the two documents were filed on different dates, adding that he had not requested the parties to leave with court documents.
The Supreme Court will on Tuesday afternoon decide on whether the applications filed after November 6 will be admitted.
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