Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko can now heave a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court confirmed that he filed his appeal on time.

Led by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Judge Smokin Wanjala, Isaac Lenaola and Wiliam Ouko dismissed objections filed by the Nairobi County Assembly claiming that the former county head failed to file his appeal within  30 days after the Court of Appeal issued its judgment.

The City’s assembly wanted Sonko’s appeal thrown out, claiming that it was filed on May 20th, outside the prescribed time frame as captured in Section  33(1) of the Supreme Court Rules.

Supreme Court ruling on Sonko case

The judges, in a ruling delivered to parties by mail, noted that there was no doubt that Sonko filed a Notice of Appeal at the Court of Appeal on March 8thh 8t 2022.

“This was four days after the Court of Appeal Judgment. The Record of Appeal on page 004509 and the fees receipt marked as annexure “MMS1″ is clear evidence of that fact,” the judges noted.

According to the judges, there was also no doubt that Sonko filed his Petition of Appeal on the Supreme Court’s online platform on April 4th 4th, 2022 – the last day for doing so under Rule 38 (1) (a) as per the Court’s Rules.

They noted that the Registrar of the Supreme Court wrote to Sonko on May 18th, 2022, directing him to file the printed copy of the Petition of Appeal within seven days, done on May May 20th, 2022.

The Judges found that although Sonko sat on the printed copy for more than one month, once directed to file the same, he did so within two days and served the respondents.

“While the conduct of the appellant (Sonko) in not filing the printed copy timeously has not been explained, the circumstances as outlined above would not lead to any adverse orders against him, and although his conduct is nonetheless to be deprecated, this Court aims to focus on the substantive appeal,” ruled the Judges.

Sonko now has a fighting chance to be cleared by IEBC since he has a pending appeal.