Acting Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu has appointed a 3-bench judge to hear petitions filed against Nairobi Deputy Governor Ann Kananu.
The bench will be led by Justice Said Chitembwe, with Justices Weldon Korir and Wilfrida Okwany also appointed for the hearing of the case that has been scheduled for mention on February 25, 2021.
Last month, Ann Kananu who was nominated by ousted governor Mike Sonko was successfully vetted by a 10-member committee of the county assembly and was confirmed as the new Deputy Governor.
However, in orders issued by Justice Anthony Mrima, the High Court temporarily stopped a possible swearing-in of Kananu as Nairobi County Governor pending a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).
Read: High Court Stops Swearing-in Of Anne Kananu Mwenda As Nairobi Governor
LSK moved to court, seeking orders mandating a by-election within the 60-day legal timeline as provided for under Article 182 (5).
The society wanted the court to halt a plan to confirm Mwenda as a substantive governor even as Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura, who has been acting as the city boss since December 21, 2020, following the impeachment of Mike Mbuvi Sonko, relinquished powers to her.
Justice Mrima thus consolidated all 10 cases challenging the vetting, appointment, swearing-in and assumption of office of Ann Kananu as Governor of Nairobi County.
“In order to foster an orderly conduct of all these related matters and given the limited judicial time coupled with the need to accord each party an opportunity to be heard, I am of the position that all these matters be consolidated,” said the judge.
The petitions were filed by LSK, activist Okiya Omtatah, Third Way Alliance Party among others.
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