A petitioner on Wednesday sued the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for allegedly removing his name from the party nomination list for the Taita Taveta county assembly.
Athman Msafari, Orange Democratic Movement Party member told the High Court in Voi that the commission expunged his name from the list of members proposed for nomination.
Msafari told the court that he was, by gazette notice number 8380 of August 28 2017, nominated by ODM to be its member of the county assembly of Taita-Taveta representing the ethnic minority.
However, on September 26 2017, the IEBC published another gazette notice number 9391, deleting his name and substituting it with that of Christopher Mwambingu.
He said that the poll body had no mandate to a party nomination list and therefore it breached the provisions of Article 177 of the Constitution and section 74 of the Elections Act.
In his application under a certificate of urgency, Msafiri sought an order directing the county assembly to suspend any salaries, allowances and remuneration to Christopher Mwambigu.
Further, he wants the court to restrain Christopher Mwambingu from conducting any activity as a member of the county assembly of Taita-Taveta until the matter is determined.
He also protested the delayed ruling on a similar matter he filed before the court in 2017 challenging the decision by county assembly speaker Meshack Maghanga to swear in Mwambingu as a nominated MCA.
However, Mwambingu said the matter had already been resolved through a party process and that he was the duly nominated member
He said that the party’s county leadership had reached an agreement to nominate him even before the 2017 General Elections.
“Nominations are not just given, they are earned. I had to make a sacrifice for it and I have all the signed agreements concerning my nomination,” Mwambingu said.
(edited by O. Owino)
