The Machakos High Court on Wednesday issued orders halting the election of Kitui County Assembly’s Speaker following a petition by two aspirants.
The petitioners, Jeremiah Mumo Kisangau and John Muneeni Makau accused the Assembly’s Clerk of conspiring with former Speaker George Ndotto to lock them out of the race.
Mumo argued that he went to submit his application papers at the County Assembly offices ten minutes before the 9 am deadline but was turned away on grounds that he was time barred.
On his part, Makau maintained that he arrived at the office 20 minutes before 9 am.
Their lawyer, Morris Kimuli, argued that his clients beat the deadline for submission of the nomination forms and their disqualification was unprocedural.
He asked the court to stop the election stating that the determination of the deadline was not objective.
“It is either the clerk manipulated his time to claim that they arrived late or simply did not want to accept their nomination documents,” Kimuli stated.
“It is something that the County clerk thought about himself and determined. We are saying that the Clerk should find a way that is verifiable and accountable to determine if somebody is late or not,” he added.
The election was scheduled to take place on Wednesday immediately after the swearing in of the 54 newly elected and nominated Kitui County MCAs.
The case will be heard and determined on Friday.
