Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Wednesday put a strong defence to save his political career, urging the IEBC disputes tribunal to reject the petition seeking to block him from the Mombasa governor race.
Sonko said he was condemned unheard.
Through his lawyers, Sonko questioned the decision to bar him from clearance by IEBC.
He said the returning officer contravened and ignored the guiding and underlying principles in failing to clear him.
“Wiper party presented a list of candidates to commission where IEBC cleared Sonko and invited him to present the required documents,” lawyer Wilfred Nyamu said.
The panel is chaired by Wambua Kilonzo.
The commissioners are Irene Masit and Justus Nyang’aya.
Wiper has fielded Sonko as its flagbearer in the race.
If he succeeds in his appeal, he will square it out with six other hopefuls.
In the case which came up for hearing before the elections dispute tribunal sitting at the Milimani law courts, the party had five lawyers including Dan Maanzo while Joe Khaminwa led Sonko's team.
IEBC and EACC were also represented.
Kevin Katisya, who appeared for Wiper, said the returning officer gave three reasons for Sonko's disqualification.
The reasons were the failure of the candidate to present an original degree certificate, a certified copy of the certificate and that he was in breach of Article 75 of the Constitution.
“The candidate has not been allowed to defend himself. IEBC chairman has overlooked all the fundamental rights of a citizen, he made arbitrary rules to the detriment of Wiper party,” Katisya said.
Even so, he said the requirement to produce an original degree certificate was not part of the checklist provided.
He said the returning officer did not have any right to deny their candidate the opportunity to run for the seat since there are pending matters before other courts.
Edwin Mukele who represented IEBC said legitimate expectations must be anchored in law and cannot be applied in favour of one candidate.
He said the reason why the documents were rejected is that the candidate did not meet the threshold of Article 75.
Mukele said the documents which were submitted out of time were not sufficient as per the requirements of Section 22 of the Elections Act.
Philip Kagucie who responded on whether EACC should be part of the proceeding said they were coming in as an interested party.
They said they provided an advisory to the electoral body on the suitability of candidates for the elective seats.
The hearing continues on Thursday.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
