• Kanu wants Murkomen's past comments on Judiciary to haunt him.
•Murkomen said the Senate is not a liquor licensing board to be injuncted.
Image: FILE
Independence party Kanu says Senator Kipchumba Murkomen deserves no favour from the judiciary as he was at the forefront in urging Parliament to disregard court orders.
In a new affidavit filed in court by secretary general Nick Salat, Kanu says Murkomen and Deputy Speaker Kindiki Kithure are on record that the Judiciary has no powers to issue injunctions against Parliament.
At the time, Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja had obtained court orders stopping his impeachment proceedings.
Murkomen from Elgeyo Maraquet was removed as Senate Majority leader.
Salat says courts should not favour Murkomen and his co-applicant with any orders when they have undermined the judicial authority of the courts in the Senate.
“They have denigrated the judicial authority of the courts in the Senate and characterised court orders as interference in the legislative authority of Parliament,” Salat said in the affidavit.
Murkomen and Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika had moved to court to challenge their removal as from the Senate leadership.
The two claim that President Uhuru Kenyatta's wing used the strength of the Kanu-Jubilee post-election coalition to kick them out from the Senate leadership.
Murkomen was the Majority leader and Kihika the Majority Whip.
Salat termed Murkomen’s conduct during the Samboja debate as “contemptuous and contumacious” of the courts and [said his words] must be purged from records of Parliament before he pleads for justice from the courts.
Murkomen, according to the Star reports at the time, told Parliament, "The Senate is not a liquor licensing board to be injuncted.”
“This is a matter [Samboja impeachment] that is time-bound. We must make a decision whether Parliament has been injuncted or not. This will set a bad precedent,” Salat said.
The Kanu secretary general is being represented by the law firm of Siaya Senator James Orengo who is also the Senate Minority leader.
In the affidavit, Salat urges the court to dismiss the application saying the dispute is a political matter that should be resolved by political parties.
“The court is not well placed to judicially manage the character of the political formation and actions as tools of parliamentary processes,” Salat argues.
He goes on, “The courts should exercise prudence and refrain from overexertion and aggrandisement of its judicial authority and discretion.”
(Edited my V. Graham)