Kenyans may go to the polls a year early if a move initiated by the Forum for Republican Democracy (FORD) is successful.
The political party moved to the High Court on Friday, December 3, seeking to have general elections held on August 8, 2021.
The party argued that elected leaders including MCAs, MPs, Senators, Governors and the President formally assumed office on August 8, 2017, making 2021 the fifth year of their term.
FORD asserted that there was a risk of leaders serving six years in office if no action was taken. The 2010 Constitution stipulates that elections be held on the second Tuesday of August of every fifth year.
“We will be going against the Constitution by insinuating that elections in Kenya will be held in August 2022 and not August 2021,” papers filed in court read in part.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki were named as respondents in the case.
Through their lawyer Kamau Nyaga, FORD blamed the AG and IEBC for failing to ensure the election date was properly defined.
It would not be the first time the courts were forced to make rulings on the election date, with former Kilome MP Harun Mwau and lawyer Mugambi Imanyara moving to court in 2012 seeking to have the election date defined.
A four-judge bench ruled then that elections needed to be held on March 4, 2013, with subsequent ones being held in August of each election year.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, lawyer Bob Mkangi noted that the Constitution in itself had different stipulations to do with official commencement and end of terms for different leaders such as President, MP and MCA but all their terms ran for five years.
"It depends because the stipulations are different for various positions, but all the terms are to run for five years. The court had pronounced itself on the election date issue," he stated.
Mkangi, who was part of the Committee of Experts that drafted the 2010 Constitution, however, noted that he would have to study the details of case before forming a firm opinion.
