The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has clarified that Members of County Assemblies (MCA’s) aspiring to vie for higher seats should not resign today.
Through a statement, the commission said that this was after the High Court on May 4, 2021, exempted a sitting President, deputy, president, governors and their deputies, MPs and MCAs from resigning.
However, the commission said the MCAs can resign before submitting their nomination to Returning Officers.
“The commission wishes to clarify that according to Article 99(2)(d) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 as read together with Section 43(5) and (6) of the Elections Act, MCAs who wish to contest as Members of Parliament should not resign by February 9, 2022, but should resign before submitting their nomination papers to the Returning Officers to contest as a Member of Parliament,” IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said.
According to the Constitution, Article 99 (2) d “a person is disqualified from being elected as a Member of Parliament if the person is a Member of the County Assembly.
The provision is further bolstered by the Elections Act which stipulates that all public officers seeking elective positions have to vacate office six months to the General Election, in this case today.
The ambiguity surrounding the issue comes after the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party withdrew its notice ordering the ward representatives to resign
“The Party wishes to withdraw the notice until we seek urgent clarification from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC),” the party’s Secretary General Veronica Maina said.
Muturi, who spoke at his JB Muturi Centre in Nairobi after attending the National Executive Council briefing of the Democratic Party, told the party officials to ensure that MCAs seeking parliamentary positions are not knocked out by a technicality.
“I am just taking the liberty to advise the Democratic Party National Executive Council that under Article 99, Clause 2, Paragraph D of the Constitution, a sitting member of the County Assembly must resign six months to the election date, which is tomorrow, February 9 for the August 9 General Election,” he said.
The House Speaker cited the court case in which Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe has a running petition filed against her by her 2017 competitor Kungú Waibara who wanted her term terminated by the court on the technicality of failure to resign six months before as Kiambu County MCA before she vied.
Waibara won round one and round two of the case in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal respectively, but Kibe moved to the Supreme Court where the case is awaiting final determination.
Whereas the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is yet to issue direction on the matter.
