Supreme Court halts Mathare by-election

By Moses Kurian

NAIROBI, KENYA: Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) not to conduct election for Mathare constituency pending hearing and determination of case filed by ousted area MP George Wanjohi.

Through lawyer Harison Kinyanjui before judges Njoki Ndungu and Mohamed Ibrahim they determined that the petitioner has an arguable case that raises serious constitutional issues.

The Court of Appeal in mid-March nullified the election of Mathare MP George Wanjohi and ordered fresh polls.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices Jamila Mohammed, Gatembu Kairu and D. K Maraga, in their ruling, said the varying tallies that were released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) returning officer could not identify the real winner of the election.

The judges said the conflicting figures could not therefore be used to declare Wanjohi as the MP. “In view of these conflicting figures, we cannot therefore declare the first respondent as the winner as we were urged to do. As a matter of fact, we are unable to determine who the real winner is,” the bench ruled.