Azimio ordered to elect new IEBC nominee

The High Court has ordered Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition to conduct fresh elections for minority cluster nominee to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission selection panel.

Justice Janet Mulwa directed Azimio to conduct the elections within 48 hours, in compliance with provisions of the IEBC (Amendment) Act 2024. “The nominee should be in place within 48 hours of this judgment and in any event not later than 3pm on October 24,” ruled Justice Mulwa.

She ruled that Azimio maliciously cleared Dr Augustus Kyalo to contest for the position, knowing his National Liberal Party, though a member of the coalition, had no representation in Parliament and was therefore not a parliamentary party.

Mulwa added that clearing Kyalo was an act in futility and ill intentioned. “For this reason alone, the court finds that Dr Kyalo was not validly elected to represent the Azimio La Umoja Coalition in the IEBC selection panel,” ruled Mulwa.

Mulwa noted that in the July 26 election, Kyalo and Ambassador Koki Muli of Wiper Democratic Movement competed and Kyalo won with 16 votes against 7.

Mulwa ruled that having won the elections, it was then wrong for the Azimio coalition to replace his name with Koki’s before submitting it to the secretary of the Parliamentary Service Commission for forwarding to the President for appointment into the IEBC Selection Panel.

“Had the Azimio Coalition been keen to observe and comply with requirements as communicated by Political Parties Registrar and the Liaison Committee it would have found that Kyalo was ineligible,” she ruled.

However, the judge said the Political Party Liaison Committee was wrong when it purported to change Kyalo’s name, wrongfully robbing him of the win.

She ruled that once a candidate is duly elected in a competitive election, nobody can purport to change or replace the name and only the court can reverse the election. The court granted Kyalo cost as compensation for his expectations in the election and ordered Azimio to pay it.

The court dismissed that replacing Kyalo with Muli was necessary to achieve the two-third gender rule. She ruled that the Parliament has not put in place a mechanism for operationalization of Gender rule in party nominations.

According to Mulwa, without considering the ramifications, Azimio replaced Kyalo with Muli who had lost the elections, without informing Kyalo of the same.

She ruled that Kyalo proved that he attempted to invoke the Azimio’s Internal Disputes Resolution Mechanism committee in a letter dated July 29, but no response was made.

Following the failure, the court noted that Kyalo moved to the Political Party Dispute Tribunal Resolution (PPDT) and obtained orders on September 10, reversing his ouster.

The tribunal ruled that Kyalo was duly elected to represent the minority party in the IEBC selection panel.

“An order is issued quashing any list forwarded by Azimio to the IEBC,” ruled the tribunal.