IEBC has cleared McDonald Mariga for Kibra by-election

A post shared on Facebook by KTN Kenya claiming that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s Dispute Resolution Committee has cleared McDonald Mariga to run in the upcoming Kibra parliamentary by election is TRUE.

The post adds that Mariga is a duly registered voter and will be Jubilee’s candidate in the Kibra by-election.

On September 10, IEBC returning officer for Kibra Beatrice Muli invalidated Mariga’s candidature on grounds that he was not a registered voter as is required in Chapter 8 of the Constitution of Kenya.

Mariga filed an appeal challenging IEBC’s decision to invalidate his candidature for the by-election set for November 7. In his complaint, he stated that he registered as a voter on August 26, 2019 at the Kariokor Social Hall polling station. The IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee heard submissions from interested parties on September 13, and delivered a ruling on the matter on September 16.

In the ruling the IEBC’s Dispute Resolution committee reversed the decision invalidating Mariga’s candidature. The committee chaired by the commission chair Wafula Chebukati reversed the ruling on the grounds that Mariga is a duly registered voter in Starehe constituency, and therefore eligible to contest the Kibra by-elections. Chebukati directed the commission’s returning officer to process Mariga’s application as stipulated by the law.

Following the ruling, IEBC returning officer for Kibra issued Mariga with a nomination certificate.

As of September 10, the commission had cleared 23 out of 30 aspirants who had registered to vie for the by-election.

PesaCheck has looked into the claim that IEBC’S disputes resolutions tribunal has cleared footballer Mariga to run in the upcoming Kibra by election and finds it to be TRUE.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

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This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Researcher James Okong’o, was edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere and was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.