The High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to prevent current and former governors from running for Senate and National Assembly seats.
Justice John Mativo ruled on Friday that Ms Carolyne Chilango’s and the Coast Legal Aid Resource Foundation’s (Clarf) petition was speculative because it was based on assumptions and was not precise.
Ms Chilango and Clarf argued that allowing current and former governors to become Members of Parliament would be a violation of the Public Officer Ethics Act as well as national values and principles. They claimed it would also allow them to conceal their wrongdoings while in office.
However, Justice Mativo stated that the petition was filed prematurely and that there was no real and imminent threat to rights that required court intervention.
He stated that even after candidates submitted their nominations to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), no amendments were sought to name specific individuals.
“The petitioners were too impatient to wait for the process to take shape and to only approach IEBC after it had cleared the candidates,” Justice Mativo said.
He added that the petitioners would have known which candidates to object to at that point, and that the law would have been on their side as it provides a mechanism for resolving such disputes.
“Their impatience and disregard of the provisions [of IEBC to settle electoral disputes] means that the suit offends the doctrine of exhaustion of remedies, which enjoys recognition under Article 152 (2) (d) [and] requires courts to embrace alternative dispute resolution mechanisms,” Justice Mativo said.
According to Ms Chilango and Clarf, former governors will erode the integrity of the National Assembly and the Senate if they become members who oversee how public funds are spent.
They also argued that the IEBC should uphold and defend the constitution by prohibiting governors from seeking refuge in Parliament in order to use their positions as a cover-up when inquiries into their actions while in office are raised.
