Martha Karua Storms Out Of The Supreme Court

Martha Karua Storms Out Of The Supreme Court.

Martha Karua, the chairperson of the NARC Kenya party, walked out of the Supreme Court hearing on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) case on Tuesday, January 18.

She took to social media to express her dissatisfaction with the Court’s decision to prevent their clients from showcasing their arguments.

The Supreme Court judges reasoned that because their clients had joined the case as amici curiae[friends of the court] before the High Court, they would continue as such before the court.

Amici is a term used to describe a friend of the court or someone who helps the court by offering information or advice on legal or factual issues. Amici are considered as neutral or interested parties.

We walked out of Supreme Court BBI appeal after the court made a decision to exclude our clients the 74th,75th &76th respondents from highlighting their submissions. The Supreme Court reasoned that because our clients joined the case in the High court as amici curiae they remain so before the Supreme Court yet the appellants are named our clients as respondents, she wrote.

She went on to say that they had already filed a consolidation request, requesting more time, but Karua claimed that the court treated her and the team as respondents.

Our position is that we were named as respondents to the Court of appeal and now in the Supreme Court and we participated as respondents in the Supreme Court in December 2021 when we successfully made an application to consolidate the appeals.We therefore submitted that the supreme court cannot turn around and lock us out having entertained us as respondents in previous case In any event no litigant or interested party should be locked out of hearing or treated in a discriminatory manner especially in a court of last resort, she noted.

During the BBI hearing, the Senior Counsel Martha karua had called out the Supreme Court judges, advocating for equality of the allocation of time when making submissions.

Our position also is that regarding every party before the court including interested parties, with this being the highest court, nobody should be shut out. Everybody should be given a hearing,she addressed the bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome.

The BBI appeal case hearing is set to go on for three days and the final judgement will be delivered on Thursday, January 20.