A three judge High Court bench on Friday told off Raila Odinga led National Super Alliance (NASA) over allegations that President Uhuru Kenyatta has links to Dubai’s Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing, the company contracted by IEBC to print ballot papers for the August 8, 2017 general elections.
Judges Joel Ngugi, George Odunga and John Mativo concluded that NASA’s claims were based on rumour and innuendo since the coalition had no evidence to prove their assertions.
The court faulted Nasa for relying on newspaper articles to prove the alleged relationship between Al-Ghurair and President Uhuru.
They said newspaper articles on their own, are inadmissible in law, and if allowed, may encourage instances where parties may in future seek to influence such publications and then use them in court in a manner that would prejudice other parties in the case.
NASA’s argument that Al Ghurair was not qualified or fit to print ballot papers was also dismissed due to lack of evidence.I
In addition, the court ruled that it cannot interfere with the mandate of IEBC and that Al Ghurair cannot be barred from participating in ballot papers printing tenders.
However, the court ordered a repeat of the tendering process for the printing of presidential ballot papers since the one which awarded Al Ghurair the job lacked public participation.
President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party was not party to the case.