The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has disqualified former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko from seeking elective office.
Speaking on Saturday, IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati said Sonko will not be vying for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat.
Also barred from running is former Kiambu CEC Karungo wa Thang’wa.
Thang’wa was seeking the Kiambu senate seat on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket.
Also affected is former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu alias Baba Yao.
Read: Two Want IEBC Barred from Clearing Sonko to Vie for Mombasa Governor Seat
Chebukati stated that the three were ineligible to seek elective office on grounds that they were impeached.
Chebukati cited Article 75(3) which states: “A person who is removed from office on contravention of Chapter 6 of the Constitution is disqualified from holding any other State or public office whether elective or appointive.”
“The Commission’s position is that Article 75 of the Constitution is self-speaking and self-executing…. Therefore the three aspirants who have been removed from public office through impeachment are disqualified from contesting in the elections,” he said.
Sonko has in the past asked DPP Noordin Haji to keep away from politics.
This was after Haji vowed to have impeached politicians barred from running for office.
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The ODPP had urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) to stop politicians facing integrity issues from running for office.
“The impeached governors and those stopped from accessing their office should not be allowed to run for office,” the ODPP noted.
As for Thang’wa, he was ousted as Kiambu Youth CEC over alleged gross misconduct.
Earlier on in the week, the former CEC lost an appeal blocking his senatorial candidacy.
He argued that he had never been “impeached or removed from office as contemplated under section 40 of the County Governments Act.”
He went on to say that the petitioner, Kelvin Njui, got the court order to consolidate his impeachment case with others, including the case Sonko, by misrepresenting facts.
“That the ex parte order was obtained by the Petitioner through deliberate concealment of material facts and a misrepresentation that I have previously been impeached and removed from office hence unqualified for elective office,” he said.
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