By BOB AMALEMBA
April 14, 2026| A High Court in Kitale has declined to allow former Trans-Nzoia Gender Top-Up nominee Lydia Chelimo Kiboi to file an appeal out of time in a long-running dispute over the 2022 party list nominations by Forum for Restoration of Democracy–Kenya.
In a ruling delivered on May 11, Justice Robert Limo found that Kiboi had failed to satisfactorily explain the delay in filing the intended appeal against a decision of the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT), saying election-related disputes are strictly governed by timelines and demand diligence from litigants.
The dispute traces back to the 2022 General Election party list nominations for the Trans-Nzoia County Assembly. Kiboi had applied through Ford-Kenya to be included in the county’s Gender Top-Up list but later discovered her name had instead been placed in the Bungoma County list.
According to court records, Kiboi challenged the mix-up before the PPDT, which ruled in her favour and directed Ford-Kenya to amend its nomination list by removing her from the Bungoma list and placing her in the Trans-Nzoia list.
However, the changes were never effected before nominations were finalized by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, leading to the nomination of Ann Khakasa Situma to the county assembly seat.
Kiboi subsequently moved to an election court in Kitale, which initially ruled in her favour and nullified Situma’s nomination. But the decision was overturned on appeal in 2023 after the High Court found that the election court lacked jurisdiction because the dispute was essentially a pre-election matter that should have been handled through mechanisms established under the Political Parties Act.
In the latest proceedings, Kiboi sought leave to challenge a July 1, 2024 PPDT ruling that dismissed her attempt to cite senior Ford-Kenya officials, including National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, and IEBC chief executive Marjan Hussein Marjan for contempt over alleged failure to comply with earlier tribunal directives.
She argued that she could not file the appeal within the statutory 30-day period because typed proceedings and a certified copy of the ruling were supplied late by the tribunal.
But Justice Limo said the explanation was insufficient, noting that Kiboi’s lawyers were present when the ruling was delivered virtually on July 1, 2024, yet they only requested typed proceedings on July 24.
“The applicant had upto 31/7/2024 to prefer an appeal if she so wished but did not,” the judge observed.
The court further held that typed proceedings are not necessary for filing a memorandum of appeal, agreeing with earlier judicial decisions that proceedings are only essential when preparing the full record of appeal.
“A litigant really does not need to secure a copy of proceedings to file an appeal or decide to challenge a decision,” Justice Limo ruled.
He added that courts cannot aid litigants who “sleep on their rights” and later attempt to justify delays through claims of missing proceedings or mistakes by counsel.
“Equity goes to the vigilant not the indolent,” the judge stated.
While rejecting arguments by the respondents that the matter had been improperly filed as a miscellaneous application, the judge nonetheless concluded that Kiboi had failed to meet the legal threshold for extension of time.
Justice Limo also noted that the nomination dispute had effectively been overtaken by events, observing that political parties were already preparing for the 2027 General Election.
“The issue of nominations of Party List in respect to 2022 General Elections is now water under the bridge,” he said.
The court dismissed the application but directed each party to bear its own legal costs.