Susan Kihika, a Nakuru Senator, has responded to a petition seeking to block her gubernatorial bid on the grounds that she is not a Kenyan citizen.
Kihika scoffed at the allegations on Twitter on Tuesday evening, implying that the citizenship saga was only brought up by those who wanted her to abandon her ambitions.
She also questions why the claims are only now coming to light as she runs for Nakuru Governor, but were not raised when she ran for Senate.
“Soo… as a Senator I was Kenyan but now that am going for Governorship am not Kenyan. It’s all right; Mungu anawaona,” she wrote on Twitter.
Her sentiments come after one Joseph Kimani Njuguna filed a petition with the Independent and Electoral Commission (IEBC) on Tuesday, requesting that she be barred from voting in the August elections.
The petitioner claims that the Senator exchanged her Kenyan citizenship for US citizenship in 2003.
As a result, Njuguna claims, the former Nakuru County Assembly Speaker is violating the Constitution in her bid for governor.
“Having lost her Kenya citizenship, the said Susan Wakahura Kihika was required under section 10 of the Citizenship and Immigration Act Cap 172 of the laws of Kenya to apply in the prescribed manner in order to regain citizenship of Kenya,” read the petition.
“Section 8(4) of the Citizenship and Immigration Act makes it an offence for a duo citizen who fails to disclose his/her other citizenship in the prescribed manners.”
Njuguna added: “I therefore request that the said Susan Wakahura Kihika be barred from contesting the upcoming general election of the August 2022 in the position of Governor Nakuru County.”
