The County Assembly of Nairobi has filed a case in court challenging the replacement of Eve Malenya as a member of the special interest group.
The assembly says a gazette notice by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission seeking to replace Malenye with Perpetua Mponjwa is unconstitutional.
“There is no vacancy in the seat held by Malenye. She has not died, been withdrawn from ODM’s party list, changed her party, resigned or been expelled from her party during her term which is ongoing,” the assembly says.
Court documents indicate Mponjwa is not a member of ODM as she registered as an independent candidate. Having resigned as an ODM member, the assembly says she can neither be nominated as an interest group from the list of nominees provided bythe party to the IEBC when she is not a member.
The assembly now wants the court to stop the notice from being implemented and the swearing in of Mponjwa as a replacement stopped.
From the official Hansard report and communication of the deputy speaker to the county assembly, the gazette notice was to be implemented on Thursday and if allowed, the assembly says an illegality will have been committed.
The court documents indicate that re-allocation of the said seat to a separate person must only be occasioned where “a representative from a political party list dies, withdraws from the party list, changes parties, resigns or is expelled from his or her party during the term of the representative".
“Mponjwa, an independent candidate, can neither replace nor be re-allocated a seat held by a member nominated by a political party. There is no vacant seat declared by the Speaker of the county assembly. It would offend the constitution to have her sworn in to represent a party that she is neither a member to nor owe allegiance to,” court papers read in part.
Edited by EKibii
