Kirinyaga Senator faces possible ouster after High Court dismisses Kibiru’s application to keep his seat
The High Court has dismissed Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru application to throw out a case which seeks to have him recalled and his seat declared vacant for participating in Jubilee Party’s affairs yet he is an independent lawmaker.
Josiah Murigu, a registered voter in Kirinyaga Central Constituency filed for the petition.
The petition read that he vied for the Kirinyaga senatorial seat as an independent candidate and emerged the winner after he garnered 147,921 votes.
He was then elected based on his manifesto and the strong conviction that he was the right candidate to represent their interests in the senate.
According to the petition, the trust bestowed upon senator Kibiru by the people of Kirinyaga County has indeed been watered down by his actions to join a political party and to take part in the affairs of the party by attending their Parliamentary Group Meetings and by participating in an election of the party leaders as a voter.
In the opinion of the 31 petitioners who lodged the case, Kibiru, having been elected as an independent candidate, is not supposed to participate in the affairs of political parties.
The voters through lawyer Waithera Kinuthia want the court to find that Senator Kibiru’s participation in the election of Jubilee leaders amounted to joining the ruling party.
“The senatorial office should be deemed vacant, in line with Article 103 (1) (e) (ii) of the Constitution,” the lawyer said.
Senator Kibiru wanted the petition declared incompetent on the grounds that it was filed in a court without jurisdiction to determine voters’ issues and argued that it should be heard and determined by the Election Court under the Elections Act, 2011 but not the Constitutional Court, where it was lodged.
“Article 105 of the Constitution is mandatory that any question on whether the seat of a Member of Parliament has become vacant can only be determined by way of an election petition,” said Mr Kibiru objected.
Justice Lucy Gitari ruled that the case was properly filed at the Constitutional Court as it has jurisdiction to hear petitions seeking declaration of such a vacancy.
She explained the contention that the petitioners can only come to this court by way of an election petition misses the point.
“The Constitution has not provided that once a person has been elected and the time for filing the petition has lapsed, the petitioners have no leeway to challenge the membership of their MPs,” said Justice Gitari.
The petitioners, led by political activist Josiah Murigu, moved to court on May 28 following claims that Senator Kibiru participated in a Jubilee Party Parliamentary Group meeting at State House on May 11.
The meeting resolved to remove senators Kipchumba Murkomen (El
