The High Court has dismissed a case seeking Johnson Sakaja’s disqualification from the governor’s race over the validity of his academic papers.
In a ruling today morning, the court said that IEBC had no error in clearing Sakaja to vie for the gubernatorial seat, dismissing the complaint on the basis of lack of proof.
There was not enough evidence to shift the evidential burden from the petitioner to Sakaja, with the court noting that it is the responsibility of the parties to prove allegations they bring before the court.
In his ruling Justice Anthony Mrima said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission did not commit any mistake in clearing the senator since there was no evidence he was not qualified to contest for the seat.
Justice Mrima further stated that it is the responsibility of the parties to prove allegations they bring before the court.
Upholding decision of the Commission’s dispute resolution committee to throw out the complaint lodged against Sakaja’s candidature the judge ruled that the petitioner, Dennis Gakuu Wahome, failed to discharge the burden of proving the senator’s Team University certificate was fake.
He also threw out petitioner’s claims that IEBC abdicated its duty to verify academic document submitted by Mr Sakaja.
The petitioner, through lawyers Paula Nyamodi and Njoki Mboce, had argued that IEBC has a statutory mandate and obligation to verify authenticity of documents presented by political aspirants.
The judge also noted that it was not the first time a court was been confronted with claims of an aspirant possessing bogus education qualifications.
He asked the investigative agencies and the director of public prosecutions to be carrying out probe on such illegalities since they are criminal in nature and it is unfair for someone to benefit from such illegalities.