The High Court has declined for the second time to stop Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from receiving nomination papers from Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho.
Justice Chacha Mwita declined to grant the restraining order noting that all candidates in the forthcoming general election enjoyed a constitutional right to participate in the election.
The orders to bar the Mombasa governor were sought by a Nairobi resident Abdalla Juma who claimed that Joho did not qualify academically to vie for the governor seat.
However, Judge Mwita ruled that IEBC is the body mandated to handle such dispute and if any person is aggrieved by its decision thereafter, is at liberty to challenge the same before court.
Juma’s lawyer who is also Kiharu MP Irungu Kang’ata requested more time to file further documents to support the suit.
The court directed him to file and serve the respondents for the mention of the case on June 21.
Abdalla Juma wanted an order restraining IEBC from accepting and receiving the party nomination certificate from Joho to run for Mombasa Gubernatorial seat on ODM’s ticket during the forthcoming general Elections.
He claimed that Joho publicly acknowledged that he obtained a grade D minus in his KCSE examination in 1993.
According to him, a candidate with grade D minus cannot qualify for admission into any university in Kenya or Eastern Africa and neither can such a candidate do a bridging course and ultimately join a university in Kenya or in Eastern Africa.
Juma also wanted University of Nairobi, IEBC and Kenya National Examination Council to supply either to him or the court with Joho’s academic certificates in their possession.
He argued that Joho does not possess requisite educational qualification as his degree was obtained fraudulently and therefore he does not qualify to hold or to vie for the office of the governor of any county in Kenya.
It was his argument that Kampala University publicly alleged that it admitted Joho on the strength of credits transfers from University of Nairobi where Joho had been originally been admitted to.
“University of Nairobi is culpable for its failure to carry due diligence prior to its admission of Joho,” he said in court documents.
According to him Opposition leader Raila Odinga and ODM acted improperly and aided in the breach of the law by failing to carryout due diligence to ascertain that Joho’s fake academic papers.
