Former Nairobi governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has been barred from vying for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat in the August 9 polls.
This comes after the IEBC dispute resolution committee upheld the judgment of the county returning officer to reject Sonko’s nomination papers.
Further, the committee said Sonko did not provide the electoral commission with a copy of his original degree certificate from Kenya Methodist University.
Earlier yesterday, the High Court had dismissed his case that was challenging a decision made by the electoral agency to disqualify him from contesting in Mombasa County.
He lost his appeal after the committee ruled that there was no case setting aside his impeachments by the Senate that led to his ouster as Nairobi governor.
Justice John Mativo allowed a preliminary objection by the IEBC against Sonko’s case, saying that it was a nomination dispute that was capable of being resolved by the commission’s dispute resolution committee.
“Internal remedies must be exhausted unless there are exceptional circumstances,” said Justice Mutivo.
In his objection, IEBC had argued that the case goes against the Elections Act as it seeks to circumvent its internal dispute resolution processes.
Lawyer Ndaiga Gacheru stated that Sonko had not made his application clear to illustrate exceptional circumstances that would allow him to file a case without going through the IEBC’s dispute resolution process.
“Contrary to submissions earlier made, there must be a formal application by the applicant to be exempted from the dispute resolution mechanism,” said Gacheru.
The IEBC further argued that the case by Sonko was seeking similar orders as the one before the three-judge bench as they touch on the issue of clearance to contest for Mombasa governor’s seat.
“There are other connected matters pending in connection with the matter in which I have an interest and in which the office of the Attorney-General is acting,” said Sonko in his suit papers.
According to Sonko the decision made by IEBC and its officials was discriminatory and inaccurate since there are other candidates who were impeached and have active appeals before court but they have been cleared to vie.
