Watch out! Ruling on Petition Will Be a Test for Supreme Court Judges’ Integrity

Petitioner Lenny Kivuti (left) shakes hands with the
incumbent Embu Governor, Hon. Martin Wambora

The outcome of the Embu County 

gubernatorial election petition, whose ruling is expected on Wednesday 30 January, 2019 at the Supreme Court, will have more than political implications. For one, it has provided yet another supremacy battlefront for the two senior counsels; Ahmednasir Abdullahi for Governor Martin Wambora and Prof. Tom Ojienda for former senator Lenny Kivuti. As much as the two leaders have of late shown some high level of harmony and mutual respect, the ruling is expected to mark either the beginning of a peaceful reign for Governor Wambora or some kind of cold war between the politicians' supporters. 

There is More Than Meets the Eye in the Embu Gubernatorial Petition 

Senior counsels Ahmednasir Abdullahi (with fingers crossed) and Prof. Tom Ojienda

Though the two courtroom brawlers have much in common, their thinly veiled sense of competition is well known in both political and judicial circles. First, let us examine what they share in common:

First of all, both Mr Abdullahi and Prof Ojienda run two of the 

biggest law firms in Kenya. That is Ahmednasir, Abdikadir & Company Advocates and Prof. Tom Ojienda & Associates Advocates, respectively. Secondly, they are known to love taking on high profile cases, of which the aforementioned petition is no exception. Thirdly, both graduated from the University of Nairobi’s Law school and got admitted to the Roll of Advocates in the same year, 1993, after completing their Kenya School of Law diplomas. Again, both are senior counsels who have earned the title for their service to the legal fraternity, having served as former chairmen of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

The two have a long history in Kenya’s legal circles where Prof Ojienda has twice succeeded Mr Abdullahi, and this seems to have gone a long way in cementing their contention. In 2014, the two clashed in a vote by lawyers to elect their representative to the powerful Judicial Service Commission (JSC) – the body that, among other duties, is charged with recruiting judges and magistrates as well as disciplining them. It is this role that Mr. Abdullahi seems not to have let go, even after his ouster, which in turn poses possible danger to Governor Wambora’s defence. 

Some of the Supreme Court of Kenya judges, headed by Chief Justice David Maraga (center)

The man may have watered down his chances of an unbiased outcome when in December 2018 he appeared before the Supreme Court judges and made a scathing attack against them. When asked by the judges, led by Chief Justice David Maraga to withdraw the submissions they deemed ‘offensive’, he said, “I am not withdrawing. Let my submissions go the way they are” (2018, December 16), Daily Nation. Now the question is: Would the Supreme Court Judges use this petition to teach the Grand Mullah a lesson and show him that he is not as smart as he thinks?