After being handed a red card on Tuesday evening by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Jubilee party candidate in Kibra by-elections McDonald Mariga indicated that he will appeal the decision within seven days, a move that was backed by Lang’ata MP Nixon Korir and former Kakamega senator Dr Boni Khalwale.
But will it be a journey easy to walk? Well, political pundits are now weighing into circumstances that might still find the former soccer star in another offside.
They say Mariga will still lose an appeal lodged against IEBC over his intentions to run for November 7 Kibra by-election.
IEBC rejected Mariga’s nomination on Tuesday, citing that he is not a registered voter, or at least, his name is not appearing in the current adopted voter register.
But advocate Omwanza Ombati says the appeal will be a waste of time should the IEBC stick to the law and provisions on matters nominations.
According to him, Mariga’s registration came barely three weeks ago and as such, the register containing his name has not been adopted in compliance with the law.
“It’s a technical case. He registered three weeks ago. His name hasn’t been adopted as a voter in compliance with the law. Adoption takes time. He will be locked out,” he says.
Further, Ombati adds, should IEBC ignore that fact, still Section 36 of the Registration Act of 2016 will have Mariga knocked out of the race.
“Assuming he gets away with that, now that his name isn’t in the register, revision needs to be done. By law, he will have to wait until November 18th to be cleared,” he added.
Another political pundit Abuga Makori says that should IEBC adopt current register (post 2017), Mariga will still be ineligible, arguing that he only registered on 26th August, days after Kibra seat was declared vacant.
“Those blaming President Uhuru Kenyatta for Mariga’s predicaments are political whimps. Assuming that IEBC adopts the current register (post 2017), the Betin boss will still be ineligible. He registered on 26th August, days after Kibra seat was declared vacant. The law is strict,” Makori posted on twitter.
Do you think Mariga will finally win the appeal against IEBC to vie for the Kibra MP seat which fell vacant following the demise of Ken Okoth?
