• The court ordered that the IEBC stops any further engagements with Sonko and Waititu in regards to the August 9 election pending the hearing on May 13.
• Sonko was impeached as Nairobi governor in December 2020 and is now eyeing the Mombasa governor seat under a Wiper ticket.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
A court has stopped IEBC from clearing impeached governors Mike Sonko and Ferdinand Waititu to participate in the August 9 polls.
Sonko was impeached as Nairobi governor in December 2020 and is now eyeing the Mombasa governor seat under a Wiper ticket.
Waititu on the other hand is seeking to reclaim his Kiambu governor seat but failed in the UDA nominations, which Senator Kimani Wamatangi won.
Sonko may thus come to the end of the road in regards to his political prospects following the decision of the Eldoret–based court.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi, following a petition by Silvester Kipkemoi, ordered that the IEBC stops any further engagements with Sonko and Waititu in regards to the August 9 election, pending the hearing on May 13.
“Given the statutory and constitutional timelines of our electoral cycle, an interim interdict grounded on relief No.2 of the application do issue against the second respondent (IEBC) pending the hearing,” the order seen by the Star reads.
The petitioner moved to court on grounds of the suitability and eligibility of the two politicians, in anticipation that they were due to present their nomination papers to the IEBC.
Kipekemi prayed that pending the inter-parties hearing and determination of the petition, the court issues conservatory orders restraining the commission from clearing the two to contest the polls.
“At the crux of the petition is the suitability and eligibility of the person so named herein, likely and set to present their clearance instruments to IEBC. To exercise their democratic and constitutional rights under the Constitution and seek leadership as provided in the Constitution and statute law,” the order reads.
The court directed that the parties in the petition be served the papers informing the case "to canvas their part of the bargain.”
Nyakundi also certified the case as urgent. “There is compelling sense of urgency for the court to consider the issues raised in the petition given their public interest importance.
“As such, the application dated May 6 is certified as urgent ex-parte in the first instance,” the judge ruled.
The judge further held that, “the parties so cited have a recognisable stake in the allegations stated in the petition.” The Attorney General, IEBC, and EACC are named as respondents in the case.
Sonko, Waititu, and the Kenya Human Rights Commission are named as interested parties in the matter filed at the Eldoret High Court.
Kipekemi wants IEBC and its officers blocked from clearing the two to vie as candidates for any elective office and or printing ballot papers bearing their names or symbols.
The question of eligibility of impeached governors to participate in the forthcoming election has been a subject of national discourse.
This was escalated after Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka handed the former Nairobi governor a ticket for a face-off with ODM’s Abdulswamad Nassir.
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji recently said “it would be a fundamental mistake to allow impeached governors to vie for office.”
He said his office would explore administrative options through the National Council on the Administration of Justice where he is the vice-chair, to bar corrupt politicians from vying in the August vote.
IEBC on Monday said impeached governors are eligible to run for office as long as they still have pending cases in courts.
In what would have been a relief to Sonko, the commission said it was guided by the law in respect of the eligibility of candidates seeking elective seats.
“If you have been found culpable by a court to have been impeached sufficiently for certain irregularities in the performance of your duties, then if there are existing appeal mechanisms you are still eligible to vie,” Prof Abdi Guliye, a commissioner at the IEBC said.
Guliye said the IEBC is to meet on Tuesday to deliberate on the question of impeached governors.
An appellate court in March ruled that Sonko was procedurally removed from office. He has however, appealed the decision at the Supreme Court.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)