RULING
It is now well established that the decision whether or not to extend time within which to file and serve the notice of appeal is essentially discretionary. To enable the Court exercise its discretion in favour of an applicant for enlargement of time, the applicant must adequately explain the cause of the delay, whether short or long and give cogent reasons why notice of appeal or the appeal was not filed within the time prescribed by the law.
Secondly, an indulgence will be extended to an applicant seeking enlargement of time only on settled principles which have been articulated in the past decision, chief among them being Leo Sila Mutiso v. Rose Helen Wangari Civil Application No. Nai 251 of 1997 that:-
“....... in general the matters which this Court takes into account in deciding whether to grant an extension of time are first, the length of the delay, secondly, the reasons for the delay, thirdly (possibly), the chances of the appeal succeeding if the application is granted, …