The High Court has stopped the swearing in of 14 nominated MCAs in Nyeri after a resident filed a case arguing that their selection was unconstitutional for failing to consider special interest groups.
Justice Timothy Matheka also issued an order of stay to the Kenya Gazette Notice number 124, dated August 28, 2017 containing the list of nominees, pending the hearing and determination of the case.
He issued the directives after a resident, Duncan Maina Mathenge, went to court complaining that the list failed to factor in consideration for special interest groups as per Article 90 and Article 177 of the Constitution.
Mr Mathenge, through lawyer Samuel Ndung’u, named the Nyeri County Assembly, its clerk, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Jubilee Party together with the 14 nominees as respondents.
The court certified the matter as urgent and directed that an inter partes hearing be held on September 12.
In the petition, Mr Ndung’u sought a declaration that the nomination is unconstitutional.
SERIOUS INJUSTICE
“If the party list [as] gazetted is adopted, it would occasion grave and serious injustice to the people as the assembly would be made up of people who are not qualified [or] deserving,” the lawyer told the court.
At the same time, a Muslim woman leader in Nyeri has filed a petition challenging the nomination of a non-Jubilee members to the county assembly.
The petition filed by the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims county women leader Esha Omari, challenged the nomination of Ms Millicent Cherotich.
According to the petition, Muslims are a minority in Nyeri and should have been considered for the slot.
“The nominee does not meet the threshold to be nominated by Jubilee [neither is she] known in Nyeri. There were other people who met the requirements, even besides me,” said Ms Omari.
She noted that she felt short-changed by IEBC and Jubilee as she had met all requirements only to be denied the slot.
Ms Cherotich’s name was missing in the list published by IEBC in the dailies only to appear in the gazette notice.
