Deputy President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga are facing separate legal hurdles in their presidential race.
Ruto has four while Raila has two urgent petitions pending at the High Court which could make both of them be locked out of the presidential race as the electoral commission is about to begin clearing candidates to vie in the August 9 General Election.
Raila’s constitutional petitions were filed by presidential aspirant Ekuru Aukot and Thirdway Alliance chairman Miruru Waweru, while the other is by voters John Kenga and George Bush.
On his side, Ruto is facing four petitions filed by politician Stanley Livondo, former nominated Senator Paul Njoroge, activist Okiya Omtatah and Michael Kirungia.
Aukot moved to court to block Raila from being on the ballot in the August polls on grounds that he is still a public servant.
In a petition filed in court, Aukot alongside his chair Waweru argue that Raila is a lifetime public servant and cannot resign to run for elective posts as other public officers.
They argue that in 2015, parliament enacted Act No 8 of 2015 -Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Act which created specific public offices obligating the entitled persons to serve as public officers as stipulated under section 8 of the Act.
“The Act recognises the entitled persons and grants them both a generous retirement package and an obligation to serve as advisors to the government and the people of Kenya,” reads court documents.
It is their argument that the advisory role given to the three leaders, Raila, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi under section 8 is not optional and the relevant persons are obligated to serve as advisors throughout their lifetime, adding that this privilege is not available even to career civil servants.
“It is the considered view of the petitioners that the said Respondents are by dint of the said Act of Parliament public officers as their benefits are drawn from the consolidated fund as allocated by Parliament and their role is defined under the self-same piece of legislation,” they argued.
They also argued that Raila is a beneficiary of funds allocated by the National Treasury to retired state officers retained as advisers to the government.
The second case, by Bush and Kenga, seeks to lock out Raila on account of his January 2018 swearing-in as the “peoples’ president” at Uhuru Park in Nairobi.
The petitioners argue that the mock swearing-in amounts to treason and want Odinga barred from vying for the presidency until he is cleared of the allegations.
They are aggrieved that two other people who participated in the swearing-in ceremony, lawyers Tom Kajwang (Ruaraka MP) and exiled lawyer Miguna Miguna, were arrested and charged.
The petitioners also want an order compelling the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring criminal charges against Mr Odinga.
Livondo, popularly known as Mr Money Bags, wants Ruto barred from vying in August polls.
In his suit against the Attorney-General, Livondo claims that several sections in the Constitution imply that a Deputy President and Cabinet Secretaries in Kenya cannot vie as Head of State in a subsequent General Election.
This, according to Livondo, means that neither member of the unit can stand for nomination, in the 2022 Presidential Election.
“Your petitioner, therefore, prays that a declaration be issued that Article 137 (2) (b) and (3) of the Constitution be interpreted to mean that it applies to the case of the President and Deputy President re-election at the completion of their first term and to a Member of Parliament at their re-election at following general elections,” the petition reads.
He also wants the DP disqualified from running for the seat on grounds that the DP serves two terms jointly with the President.
Kirungia also filed a petition claiming that the DP is ineligible because of an alleged crime he committed under the Oaths and Statutory Declaration Act.
He alleges that the DP has absconded his duties and wants the court to restrain him from using his Karen office and his official residential home to hold political meetings.
The petitioner says the DP has been doing “self-assigned” duties and functions other than those involving his oath of office.
“Being the principal assistant to the President, (Dr Ruto) has failed (in his duties),” Kirungia says in court papers.
In yet another case facing Dr Ruto, Omtatah wants an interpretation of the law on the eligibility of Dr Ruto and other holders of elective positions vying for the presidency.
The activist wants the court to declare that a sitting President, deputy President, governor and deputy governor cannot be elected to any other elective positions other than the one they hold.
Besides Ruto, another presidential aspirant holding an elective position is Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria.
Omtatah’s main contention is whether Section 43 of the Elections Act complies with Article 24(2)(a) of the constitution.
That section of the Act is on the participation in elections by public officers.
It exempts holders of elective political offices from the list of public officers who should resign to contest in an election.
Article 24(2)(a) of the constitution says a law enacted or amended limiting a fundamental freedom is not valid unless the legislation specifically expresses the intention to limit that right or fundamental freedom, and the nature and extent of the limitation.
In Njoroge’s petition, he wants the court to determine whether conducting the presidential election of August 9 will have reduced the five-year term of President Kenyatta and DP Ruto.
The former nominated senator, who represented persons with disabilities between 2013 and 2017, wants the General Election postponed so as to ensure that both the President and his deputy serve a full term.
Because President Kenyatta and his deputy were re-elected and sworn in on November 28, 2017, he argues, their five-year constitutional terms will not have lapsed by the date of the elections and their stay in office should be extended.
He says Kenyatta and Ruto’s constitutional terms lapse on November 28.
Dr Ruto is also facing a separate case that may disrupt his campaign and political messaging.
The case by Jacob Kioko involves the copyright of the DP’s economic slogan “Bottom-Up”.
Kioko, a professional marketer, filed the case last November and claims the “bottom-up” economic model is his innovation and intellectual property.
He registered it as a patent in March 2010 and was issued with a certificate three years later, in May 2013.
He claims that he shared the idea of the proposed economic model with the offices of the President and deputy President in 2014 but efforts to get an audience with either President Uhuru Kenyatta or Ruto were unsuccessful.