Uasin Gishu:Nine out of the 13 nominated UDA MCA’s face their fate!
-Justice Stephen Riech who is presiding over the matter at Eldoret High
Court is expected to deliver the judgment on August 31st-
A Section of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly/Image Courtesy
Nine out of the 13 nominated United Democratic Alliance party MCAs to
the Uasin Gishu County Assembly will know their fate on August 31 when
the High court will deliver its judgment on a petition challenging
their nominations.
Justice Stephen Riech who is presiding over the matter at Eldoret High
Court is expected to deliver the judgment at about 2:30 pm following
the closure of submissions from the petitioners and Respondents.
The affected MCAs were dealt a big blow on March 14 this year; when
Eldoret Chief Magistrate Dennis Mikoyan nullified their nomination
terming it illegal.
Aggrieved by the degazettement of their nomination in party list
published on September 9, 2022, the disgruntled MCAs moved to the High
Court to appeal the law court’s ruling.
Mikoyan’s judgment follows a case in which two petitioners, Celestine
Mutai and Robert Kiptanui had filed against the UDA party and the IEBC
seeking the revocation of the nine nominations.
The two had argued in their petition that despite applying for
nomination as MCAs and qualified, their names were removed from the
list thereby contravening their rights to fair administrative action.
Kiptanui, who is living with disability, told the court that by
omitting his name from the list of nomination, the ruling party failed
to promote and ensure progressive implementation of the principles
that promote the representation of persons with disabilities.
The UDA controlled County assembly has 14 nominated MCAs of which only
one is from the former ruling party, Jubilee.
According to the Chief magistrate, his decision to reverse the
nomination of the UDA members was based on the fact that the ruling
party and the electoral commission relied on a list that has been
declared null and void by the political parties’ tribunal when
settling on them.
The magistrate faulted the electoral body for gazetting a contested
list, even after the political party’s tribunal advised the commission
not to gazette the contested names.
“A declaration is hereby issued that the party list for UDA Uasin
Gishu Member of County Assembly (Gender top up and marginalized)
categories published by IEBC vide Gazette notice No 10712 Vol CXXIV-NO
186 dated September 9, 2022 is illegal and void,” ruled Mikoyan
About Author
