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Raila tells court to dismiss Aukot suit

Wednesday, April 27th, 2022 00:53 | By
Aukot
Thirdway Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot. PHOTO/Courtesy

Azimio La Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga yesterday asked the court to dismiss a petition which seeks to block him from vying for the top seat in the August General Election, saying it is an abuse of the court process.

The suit filed by Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot seeks to bar Raila, Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi from contesting in the upcoming General Election on grounds that they are public officers.

Aukot argues that the three are beneficiaries of the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Act enacted by Parliament in 2015 and are unqualified to vie for the presidency.

But the former Prime Minister argues that the petition is based on mere suspicion rather than actual violation of the law.

“A retired public officer is not a public officer. The Public Service Commission has no jurisdiction over the entitled persons,” he argues in court documents.

He says the Retirement Benefits Act does not in any way appoint him as an advisor to the government as alleged by Aukot.

“The role under section 8(1) of the Retirement Benefits Act is without pay and is ad hoc,” he argues in court documents.

He says he does not fit in the definition of a retired prime minister as stipulated in the act and that the Constitution does not contemplate the post of prime minister.

No evidence

The ODM leader argues that the suit by Aukot is defective both in form and in substance and is, therefore, unmerited and brought in bad faith.

He argues that the petition fails the test of justiciability and ripeness and that the court was being invited to embark in an academic exercise which is a waste of precious judicial time.

“The petition is incurably defective as the petitioners have not pleaded or adduced any evidence in support of the allegations on the payment or any monies to them or appointment of any such accountants as alleged,” he says in  the documents.

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