ODM Ndhiwa parliamentary aspirant, who filed a case questioning integrity of presidential hopefuls, wants to remove Prime Minister Raila Odinga's and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka's names from the suit. Augustino Netto, together with Zachari Momanyi, Morgan Mwariama and the Kenya Youth League, said yesterday they were enjoined in the case challenging the eligibility of Raila, Musyoka and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi without their knowledge.
The case was initially challenging the eligibility of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto for the top seat in next year's general election. However, the suit papers were recently amended through lawyer Ambrose Weda and the names of Raila, Musyoka and Mudavadi added.
The three activists said the addition of Raila, Kalonzo and Mudavadi amounts to an abuse of court process as it seeks to turn the court into a battleground to settle political scores based on rumours. They also said they were never consulted by Weda and they never agreed to add the names of Raila, Kalonzo and Mudavadi to the suit. “The further amended petition is an ambush on petitioners neither of whom were consulted nor do they agree or concur with the attempt to draft persons other than those originally intended into the petition,” they said.
The three now believe the decision to add the three presidential hopefuls to the suit ''is an attempt to re-characterise the original case without authority''. The court is being asked to determine whether the candidature of Raila, Musyoka and Mudavadi is permissible in the face of allegations of abuse of office, nepotism and corruption levelled against them.