• The lobby said though it seems simple, failure by the commission to fully exercise its powers would be costly to the country in the long run.
• The society cited a 2018 Supreme Court judgment in a case that challenged the election of Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi on grounds of validity of his degree papers.
The Law Society of Kenya has rejected the stance taken by the electoral agency over Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja’s degree papers.
LSK says the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had legal authority to determine the authenticity of Sakaja’s papers.
IEBC on Sunday cleared Sakaja to run in the city’s gubernatorial contest, despite the ongoing police probe on the validity of his academic papers.
The commission said it had no jurisdiction to determine whether the credentials were genuine.
However, the LSK council led by president Erick Theuri, on Monday said the commission was abdicating its duty and failing to exercise powers that the Supreme Court has determined it has.
The lobby said though it seems simple, failure by the commission to fully exercise its powers would be costly to the country in the long run.
“We express concern that the commission has shied off from addressing with finality the question of qualifications for nomination duly raised before it,” it said.
The society cited a 2018 Supreme Court judgment in a case that challenged the election of Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi on grounds of validity of his degree papers.
The court had determined that the lower courts were wrong to assume jurisdiction and determine whether or not the governor’s papers were right.
The court settled that the issue should have been raised before and settled by the electoral agency’s dispute resolution tribunal.
“In this instance, the question of academic qualifications has been properly raised before the IEBC Dispute Resolution Mechanism, where unfortunately, the commission has failed to render itself conclusively,” Theuri said.
Appreciating that the exhaustive investigation of the saga was a preserve of other agencies including DCI and the ODPP, the society says it was the commission’s job to liaise with the entities and ensure that facts are brought to light before it pronounced itself.
“We demand that the IEBC should exercise its constitutional mandate and determine whether the candidates in question possess genuine degree certificates,” the LSK council said.
Theuri said just like the protracted Wajir case that cost the tax payer a fortune, it predicts that the Sakaja case could drag on past the poll date and cause even more loss.
“There is likelihood that indeed the investigations would continue until and after election. And in the event that a charge is preferred against any of the candidates in the election, the citizenry shall be treated to a repeat of the 21017 Wajir gubernatorial election," LSK said.
The lobby also demanded that the commission releases the report on the result transmission dry run and highlight the challenges it encountered.
It said the commission is obligated to be open and transparent in its decision and preparations, to help build public confidence in readiness for credible a poll.
"We note that election is not an event but a process. It's imperative that as we move towards election, the public has confidence that the commission is well prepared to conduct free and fair election," LSK said.
The society however condemned the Sunday violence witnessed at Jacaranda grounds in Embakasi East, where youth groups clashed.
It called for tolerance among political rivals and said the police need to up their game in forestalling and quelling conflicts.
LSK said bodies like Kenya National Commission on Human Right and Ipoa should also be vigilant in safe guarding the guaranteed fundamental rights.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)