Respondents to ensure that the required provision was in place before
any elections were held in 2016 and subsequently in 2021.
[88] The Respondents cannot take refuge in what I see as a prior
contravention arising from their own omission simply because the said
omission was not “pleaded” by the Petitioner in order to deny a
consequential breach. The failure to publish which was the Petitioner’s
complaint is consequential to the failure to process the enactment of the
required legal provision. As opposed to being an escape it compounds the
contravention which was alleged. And it does not end there, due to a
further aggravating factor.
[89] The Respondents were clearly aware of the pressing need to comply
with the constitutional provisions relating to the entire electoral process
before any election was held under the Constitution because they did
facilitate the passing of the Act and the Regulations before the 2016
elections took place, even though what was passed excluded provision
for the publication of the declaration of assets and liabilities of a
presidential candidate. The Act and the Regulations were applied in the
2016 and the 2021 elections.
[90] It is of note, that the prescribing of the relevant provision was not
open-ended. It had a time frame within which it had to be done, that is,
before the first presidential election after the Constitution took effect. I am
J36
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents