The August 9 general election will go on as planned after the High Court dismissed as unconstitutional a case challenging the date.
Justice Anthony Mrima on Thursday dismissed the case filed by former nominated Senator Paul Njoroge.
Mrima said the supremacy of the Constitution is not subject to change by any court. The Constitution, he said, cannot sabotage itself.
“It can be discerned that the petitioner is calling upon the court to adjust the constitutionally appointed date for the general election [but] such is an untenable limitation,” the justice said.
He said August 9, 2022, is constitutionally the second Tuesday in August of the fifth year since the last general election.
Njoroge had argued the general election date of August 9, 2022, is unconstitutional on grounds the five-year term of the incumbent government had not expired, since the election was held in March 2013.
But Mrima said the calculation of time starts at the beginning of the election cycle, which is the second Tuesday in August, in every fifth year.
The court observed that the election date of August 9, 2022, is constitutional and it cannot be adjusted by any occurrence in the intervening period.
The judge further dismissed claims by Njoroge that the elections should be postponed on grounds the electoral body was not properly constituted at the time it gave directions on conduct of the elections.
Njoroge filed the case in court September last year on grounds the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission was not properly constituted when it set the 2022 election date.
He argued that the procurement of hardware and software material, as well as personnel to be used during the poll by IEBC, was illegal.
"The intended presidential election of August 9 is imposed on the people of Kenya through an administrative agreement of the IEBC and therefore illegal, irregular and illegitimate," Njoroge said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
