IEBC On The Spot For Using Wrong Formula In Kwale County Nominations  

By Tobby Otum

A member of Pamoja  African Alliance Party [PAA] has moved to court  to challenge the Kwale Members of County Assembly (MCA) nomination list gazetted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Comission (IEBC).

Mary Kalinga has accused the IEBC of using a wrong formula to allocate the positions to political parties after the August 9 general election.

Through her counsel Wameyo Onyango the petitioner wants the IEBC to revoke its earlier decision at a Kwale court.

Mary, who is a registered voter at Tsunza  Primary School and who hails from Kinango constituency, wants the the nomination of MCAs in the county to strictly comply with constitution and regulations of the elections Act.

She pointed out that the nominations of the  representative of the county vide special gazette notice dated September this year is unconstitutional and in breach of the provision of articles 88, 90 and 177 of the constitution.

“Which is therefore null and void,” she pointed out.

The PAA member argued in her petition that her party was entled to get three MCA slots instead of two.  

Mary argued through her affidavit the wrong forumula used by the IEBC has denied her a slot which she is qualified to get.

She pointed out that she was to get the slot under gender rule after her party got two members elected to the county assembly during the August polls.

“I had applied through my party for a nomination slot as Member of County Assembly under the gender top up category,” she pouted out.    

The petitioner has served the IEBC as the first respondent questioning the formula the electoral body had used in the nominations which she added leaves a question mark.

Mary said in her petition that Partun Mohamed  Musa [ODM], Josephine Warimu [PAA] and Rachel Mutisya [UDM] are neither registered voters nor residents of Kwale county and therefore they do not qualify to get the county nomination slots.

She poked holes into the electoral body for erring in the allocation of noimination slots which are 10 instead of 13 which has been the practice since 2013.

The three nomination under ethnic minority, marginalized and youth categories are irregular since the three don’t hail from Kwale county, she argued.     

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