Revealed: Kalonzo submitted his presidential bid to IEBC ten days ago

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka submitted his name as a presidential aspirant on the day the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition running mate interviews began, Nation can reveal.

The following day, Mr Musyoka appeared before the panel interviewing candidates to deputise Mr Raila Odinga.

The submission of the Wiper presidential aspirant’s name was done in response to a directive by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to revise their nomination lists to meet the two-thirds gender principle.

The letter forwarding the list of Wiper aspirants dated May 9 was signed by the party’s National Elections Board chairperson Agatha Solitei.

On Monday, the party submitted the name of Mr Musyoka’s running mate, Narok senator hopeful Andrew Sunkuli, to the IEBC.

A source at the IEBC revealed that whereas the name was accepted, other underlying questions being raised as pertains to Mr Musyoka’s eligibility despite Wiper entering into a coalition agreement with Azimio, will be addressed in the clearance stage.

“Accepting (a name) is clerical so subsequently the team shall sit and deliberate on the same,” the IEBC official said.

Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, a close ally of Mr Musyoka, said: “The name of my PL (party leader) as a Wiper presidential nominee was presented to IEBC a long time ago in compliance with the commission’s deadlines.”  He added that they were confident of having Mr Musyoka’s name on the ballot.

“Nothing other than mischief would stop this ticket from being cleared to go all the way to the ballot. As a party we are sufficiently prepared to win the August 9, 2022 presidential election,” the Kitui senator said.