Court hands impeached Sonko reprieve after halting February poll

Impeached Nairobi governor Mike Sonko. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By SAM KIPLAGAT
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Summary

• The High Court has temporarily stopped the Nairobi gubernatorial by-election, which was slated for next month.
• This was after impeached governor Mike Sonko challenged the process leading to his ouster late last year.
• Justice Anthony Mrima suspended the gazette notice published on December 21, by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), announcing the by-election date.

The High Court has temporarily stopped the Nairobi gubernatorial by-election, which was slated for next month.

This was after impeached governor Mike Sonko challenged the process leading to his ouster late last year.

Justice Anthony Mrima suspended the gazette notice published on December 21, by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), announcing the by-election date.

Mr Sonko had filed the petition last year but was overtaken by events forcing him to amend the case. He argued that his petition raises pertinent constitutional questions, which might be rendered useless unless the by-election, slated for February 18, is stopped.

He said the process that led to his impeachment by the county assembly, starting on December 3 was conducted in breach and the disregard of the democratic principles and separation of powers.

Mr Sonko says the attendance by the MCAs during the process was both physical and virtual. However, he says, the law and Standing Orders do not contemplate the simultaneous application of both methods of voting.

He further said some of the MCAs were in Kilifi County, and it is not envisaged that they could vote either physically or virtually contrary to the Standing Orders.

“The MCAs that were outside Nairobi have alleged that their accounts were hacked and/or corrupted and strangers purported to log in and vote on their behalf,” he said.

He claims the Zoom system used on the voting day was logged into more than once with different accounts at the same time.

“There was double and in some cases quadruple logging in to peoples’ accounts, which raises serious questions about the integrity of the process,” he said.

He said Mr Mutura declared that he was impeached by 88 MCAs but it is not possible to verify whether they voted.