Jubilee Party's Kibra by-election candidate McDonald Mariga's woes deepened on Friday after a voter, one Leina Konchellah, petitioned the IEBC to investigate the former footballer's age.
The petition was filed when Mariga had appeared before the election commission's Dispute Resolution Committee.
The Star reported that Konchellah claimed that Mariga did not meet the threshold to be a candidate.
“It is rather curious that the complainant presented a national identity card indicating his date of birth is April 4, 1987.
"His Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education certificate shows he sat the exam in November-December 2002,” Konchellah stated in a sworn affidavit to the IEBC.
It means Mariga sat the KCSE exam at age 15, which is rather unusual. That also suggests that he would have enrolled in Standard One when he was just three years.
If he was a genius in primary school, he would have a hard task explaining why he scored a D- in KCSE. That, or there could be issues with the authenticity of the documents, the petitioner questioned.
However, the IEBC's stated that it would only admit parts of the Konchellah's affidavit.
Mariga's legal team was advised to restrict the presentation to the issues touching on Mariga’s registration as a voter.
The footballer had petitioned the election body after Kibra Returning Officer Beatrice Muli invalidated his nomination , on account that his name was missing from the register of voters.
Appearing before the committee, Muli defended her decision claiming his name was not in the register and clearing him would be a breach of the law and election regulations.
The committee concluded that Mariga would know his fate over the by-election on Monday, September 16.
