The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has picked a new team of eight lawyers to represent it in the presidential petition filed by two petitioners on Monday.
Conspicuously missing in the team is senior counsel Paul Muite and PLO Lumumba who both represented the electoral in the last petition filed by NASA after August 8 polls.
Earlier on Tuesday, two commissioners intimated to the Star that the commission has held two plenary meetings with the view to overhaul its legal team.
They explained that they may have lost the last petition due to glaring gaps within the defense team.
The August 8 polls were nullified by the Supreme Court and fresh polls ordered within 60 days.
Now, IEBC has appointed a team of eight with lawyer Kamau Karori being the only one retained from the previous legal team for the commission.
They are: Waweru Gatonye (Lead Cousel), Kamau Karori, Eric Gumbo, George Murugu, Wambua Kilonzo, Kimani Muhoro, Mahat Somane and Lucy Kambuni.
Gatonye was picked by the commission due to his vast experience in the legal field.
He is a graduate of law from University of Nairobi (1974). He has worked at the Attorney General’s office where he held the position of a Deputy to the Director of Public Prosecution at the time.
He was appointed by the President as an Assisting Counsel Assisting Counsel in the Goldenberg Inquiry tasked with investigating loss of public funds amounting to billions of shillings.
Central Bank appointed him as the lead counsel in the commission of inquiry that investigated the sale of Grand Regency during the tenure of Amos Kimunya as Finance Minister.
On the other hand, Karori has imminently featured in the commission’s legal issues having represented it in the 2013 Presidential petition filed by the then Cord.
He is a legal egghead in dispute resolution. He has represented several multinational clients whom he in commercial dispute cases.