Lobby seeks to block Raila from presidential race

A lobby group has moved to court seeking to block ODM leader Raila Odinga from vying for the presidency over integrity claims.

Humans Right Africa filed its case in the High Court Wednesday claiming that Raila’s character was tainted and thus he should not be allowed to run for the top seat come August 8.

The lobby, through its lawyer Robert Onyango, claimed the former prime minister was part of several scandals. It cited kazi kwa vijana project, maize scandal, the Triton Oil scandal, Kisumu molasses plant scandal and the recent allegations by an American who operated Dominion Farm in Yala swamp.

It claimed the ODM leader had not yet cleared his name since investigations into the scandals had never been concluded.

Probe on scandals

“It is in public knowledge that investigations in the above mentioned scandals have never been concluded, and even if concluded, the reports have never been made public or acted upon,” the court papers read.

The Derick Malika-led organisational argued that the image of the country would be ridiculed if Raila is cleared to vie for the presidency with the alleged integrity cloud hovering over his head.

The organisations want the court to order the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to investigate Raila.

The lobby also questioned Raila’s education credentials.

The court papers read that although the former prime minister had publicly declared that he holds a master’s in Mechanical Engineering from a German University, he allegedly has only produced a certificate of education from Herder Institute, Leipzig, in Germany indicating his competence in Germany.

It claimed that the higher learning institution only got a university status recently and thus could not have offered a degree course in the 1970s.