Court declines request to bar IEBC from receiving Sonko’s nomination papers
Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko.
The High Court has declined a request by two voters to bar the electoral agency from receiving and processing former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s nomination papers.
The court directed that the matter be consolidated with two other cases seeking to block Mr Sonko’s latest quest for elective seat.
Mr Mukidi Jwenge and Mr Anderson Warui had asked the court to issue an interim order barring the polls agency from processing Mr Sonko’s papers in his bid to contest the Mombasa governorship seat.
But Justice Anthony Mrima declined to grant the order, noting that two other cases had been filed in Mombasa and Eldoret and were pending empanelment of a three-judge bench by the Chief Justice.
“I have considered this matter carefully. The court is aware of like matters filed in the High Court in Mombasa and in Eldoret. There is also an expanded Bench to be empanelled by the Chief Justice. As a result, it is only prudent that this matter be forwarded to the Chief Justice for purposes of empanelment so as to have prudent use of the limited judicial time,” said Justice Mrima.
The judge directed the court’s deputy registrar to transmit the matter to the CJ for purposes of putting together a panel to hear and determine it alongside the other related matters.
The petitioners argue that Mr Sonko is unfit to hold any state office after he was removed from the office of the governor of Nairobi on December 17, 2020 for breach of Article 10 and 75(1) of the Constitution.
They argue that his removal was a confirmation that he had failed to exercise the values and principles of good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability in implementation of the law.
“There is a real danger where a person duly removed from office in accordance with the law is allowed to contest in a general election to occupy the office of governor which is a state office despite being disqualified by law from so doing,” they say through lawyer Mwangi Ndegwa.
In their view, Mr Sonko, who is vying for the Mombasa governor’s seat on a Wiper party ticket, is not qualified to run for that office.
“Mr Sonko is in breach of Article 10 (2) to the extent that it relates to promotion of good governance, integrity, transparency and integrity and thus barred from holding any state office by virtue of Article 75(3) of the Constitution,” they say.
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They further argue that an appeal filed at the Supreme Court by Mr Sonko on April 4, 2022 challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal to uphold his impeachment cannot be a ground for his clearance to vie for a public seat again. The said appeal is pending directions.
The basis of their case is Article 75(3) of the Constitution, which bars a person removed from office from ever holding any other state office.
“A true reading of Article 75(3) shows that even if Mr Sonko was to be elected as the governor of Mombasa County, he cannot assume the state office of the governor. This is because Article 75(3) postulates that Sonko is disqualified from holding any other state office pursuant to his removal from office as the governor of Nairobi County,” say the voters.
While passing the resolution to remove Mr Sonko from office, the Senate found him guilty of plundering public resources, persistently intimidating and molesting county executives and unlawfully using public funds to pay for his daughter’s travel to New York, USA.
He was also found guilty of persistently and wilfully using, publicising and publishing abusive and unbecoming words and language as evidenced by his social media posts.
He was further found guilty of hurling abuses and conducting himself in a manner that demeaned the office of the governor.
