IEBC asked to set by-election date for North Ugenya Ward

The county assembly and residents of North Ugenya Ward are piling pressure on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to announce a by-election date for the ward.

The North Ugenya seat felt vacant following the death of its representative Benson Onyango in March.

According to Deputy Speaker Stephen Kadera, the IEBC has delayed to set election date without any justifiable reasons, arguing that this was denying the electorate a constitutional right to have representation at the assembly.

The Speaker George Okode had written to IEBC declaring the seat vacant and according to Constitution the commission should have announced the date by now.

constitutional rights

A by-election, according to the Constitution is supposed to be held within 90 days of the seat being declared vacant. 

“The speaker declared the seat vacant two months ago and the commission has not yet set an election date. This is denying the residents their constitutional right,” Mr Kadera told The Standard..

According to Chris Oruya, a resident of North Ugenya, a lot of things that had been planned by the late MCA have stalled.

“There’s nobody to take care of our needs and we are therefore appealing to the IEBC to set an election date because delaying it will see a lot of projects stalling,” he said adding that they need a representative.

But Alego-Usonga IEBC Co-ordinator Benson Esuza refuted the claims arguing that they are working on the election date and will communicate as soon as they finish.

“We raised the matter with the IEBC chief executive officer and he promised that the date will be announced soon. So far, we are respecting and following the law and the timeline as well. It will be announced in accordance with the law,” said Mr Esuza.

The late MCA was until his death the Chairperson of Public Works, Transport and Communication Committee in the assembly. He was buried at his home in Sihoro.