Independent presidential aspirants were surprised when they learnt about a section of the law that requires them to produce signatures of 48,000 supporters with at least 2,000 from majority of the counties.
The law further directs that the supporters should not be affiliated with any political party.
They learnt of this directive on Tuesday when they met officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and cried foul saying it was a move aimed at locking them out.
Nazleen Umar was enraged upon learning that she had to look for the signatures before Monday yet IEBC had not published the list of members of political parties in the Kenya Gazette.
“Clearly, IEBC has set a trap to rule out independent candidates in Kenya. It is nonsense and IEBC has no business checking the details of the voters," she remarked.
Another independent candidate Dr Jeff Kaluyu, told journalists that he had arrived from the United States just 48 hours to the meeting and said the provision could lock out a percentage
“The IEBC should consider and accommodate us. They can always extend the deadline because they had not told us about this,” said Dr Kaluyu.
This directive might prove to be a tough task for the not so popular independent candidates as the deadline draws nearer.
The presidential candidates are supposed to hand in their nomination documents to the IEBC at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Sunday and Monday.
