- It is understood a number of senior lawyers who have worked for President Uhuru Kenyatta will form part of the tactical team.
- Kiragu Kimani, Tom Macharia, Desterio Oyatsi, Waweru Gatonye, among a host of others, expected to feature on the list.
Image: RAILA ODINGA/TWITTER
Azimio leader Raila Odinga has assembled a battery of high-powered lawyers for an epic Supreme Court battle to overturn William Ruto’s presidential victory.
A senior counsel with detailed knowledge of conversations about legal representation has told the Star the team comprises more than 30 formidable legal minds, categorised in three tiers.
They are senior counsels, experienced lawyers and other advocates skilled in drafting and formulating legal arguments.
Some of the lawyers were at the centre of the 2017 case in which the Supreme Court nullified the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The court, then led by Chief Justice David Maraga, declared the elections invalid, null and void after it determined they were marred by illegalities and irregularities.
It is understood a number of lawyers who have worked for President Kenyatta will form part of Raila's team.
Kiragu Kimani, Tom Macharia, Desterio Oyatsi, Waweru Gatonye and a host of others are expected to feature prominently.
They also featured prominently in the BBI case.
Senior counsel Fred Ngatia, who represented President Kenyatta in past presidential petitions, told the Star he was yet to be approached.
"We are birds of a feather. If assigned, I will inform you,” he said.
It was not immediately clear if former Attorney General Githu Muigai would join the team.
On Wednesday, the Star established that some of the legal team started meeting soon after IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati declared the presidential results on Monday evening.
The battalion's advice, sources suggested, informed Raila’s decision to challenge the results at the apex court.
Raila’s long-serving legal adviser Paul Mwangi and lawyer Jackson Awele, one of the star lawyers in the 2017 case, are coordinating the team.
Both Mwangi and Awele are renowned for their drafting skills and are understood to be crucial in framing the questions the team will pursue while arguing the case.
Awele’s law firm was central in the 2017 election petition and his office was the focal point of coordination of filing and correspondence.
Among others, Mwangi and Awele also featured prominently in the battle that unsuccessfully sought to save the BBI process that was called unconstitutional.
Senior counsels James Orengo, who is also Siaya governor-elect, Okong’o Omogeni who just retained his Nyamira Senate seat, Kisumu senator-elect Tom Ojienda and constitutional scholar Ben Shihanya are among those the ODM boss has assembled to save his political future.
Opinions are divided on whether lawyers who have been declared governors-elect can personally argue court cases, as governorship is an executive function.
Senior counsel Pheroz Nowrjee, former Director of Public Prosecutions Philip Murgor, senior counsel and Rarieda MP-elect Otiende Amollo are the other faces of the team.
Others are Suba North MP-elect Millie Odhiambo, her Homa Bay Town counterpart Peter Kaluma and Makueni Senator-elect Dan Maanzo.
Maanzo said they were in the last stages of assembling the lot and were concluding the drafting of papers.
“We have been trying to craft the draft (petition) but we still want the team to be properly constituted so that everybody is onboard. We are quite a number [of lawyers],” he said.
Maanzo said each member of the team will have his own assignment and Orengo and Amollo will lead. Orengo has not been sworn in as governor so he can still argue the case," he said.
When contacted by the Star, Shihanya, who has been by the ODM leader’s side for decades, did not confirm or deny he was part of the legal team.
He asserted, however, the Azimio coalition has a plethora of battle-hardened lawyers who will play different roles in the war to overturn Ruto's victory.
“From what our candidate said on Tuesday, there are numerous legal and constitutional processes ongoing in furtherance of our objective. However, on who will play what role is way above my pay grade,” the professor of law said.
On Monday, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto the President-elect after he defeated Raila and two other candidates in the poll on August 9.
He declared Ruto the winner with 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.49 per cent of the votes cast, against Raila’s 6,942,930 votes, or 48.85 per cent of the votes cast.
However, Raila flatly rejected the declaration and promised a battle with Chebukati whom he accused of bungling the elections. He declared the IEBC chairman's figures "null and void".
“He could have plunged the country into chaos. Such impunity can be a threat to security [but] it is not up to us to determine whether Chebukati has committed an illegality,” Raila said on Tuesday.
(Edited by V. Graham)