The hearing of a petition challenging Governor Alfred Mutua's August 8 victory took a new twist on Monday after a lawyer who had allegedly disowned crucial documents changed his stand.
Lawyer Ham Lagat told court that contrary to earlier claims, he is the one who commissioned Wavinya Ndeti's affidavits.
Last week, Alfred Mutua, through his lawyer, told court that Lagat did not commission the affidavits, a claim the latter refuted while being cross-examined by the governor's legal team.
The lawyer said he did not write any letter to Mutua's lawyer disowning the affidavits.
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Lawyer Benjamin Musau had last Thursday presented to the court a letter
allegedly written by Lagat and addressed to Wilfred Nyamu denying having sworn
the affidavits.
He and
the entire governor's legal team also argued that Wavinya's affidavits had been
commissioned by two different advocates.
They said that one was drafted by Ham Lagat and
another by the name Ham Kiplimo Lagat.
Also in
question was the varying signatures and stamps in the affidavits with Mutua’s
lawyers arguing that the the documents were not authentic.
This
prompted Justice Aggrey Muchelule to direct each side to produce its said Lagat
in court to shed light on the matter.
On Monday, Mutua's legal team told the court they were unable to find the lawyer they alleged had written to them.
But Ndeti's side brought Lagat to the witness stand where he was cross-examined
by both sides.
Lagat said
the stamp and signatures in the petitioner's affidavits were his and that he had known Ndeti
for long, having represented her in other matters.
An
application by Mutua’s lawyers to produce a video recording of Lagat
disowning the affidavits and to line up three witnesses to testify on the matter was
declined by court.
"Considering
the court is dealing with a side issue and that we have constitutional
timelines, I decline to grant leave for calling of further evidence in this
matter," Justice Muchelule told the jammed court.
Hearing continues on Wednesday.
