The High Court has ordered journalist Tony Gachoka to deposit Sh500,000 as security in an election petition in which he is challenging the omission of his name from the Narc Party’s list of candidates for the National Assembly.
The order came after a determination that the petition was an election dispute governed by the Elections Act (Parliamentary and County Elections Petition Rules) and should be resolved within six months.
Since then, Chief Justice Martha Koome has appointed Justice Erick Ogolla to hear and decide Mr Gachoka’s case.
Mr Gachoka filed a lawsuit after the Charity Ngilu-led National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) failed to nominate him to the National Assembly to represent people with disabilities.
He claims that the Azimio la Umoja Coalition party promised to put him first on its nomination list because he is disabled. However, his name did not appear on the list submitted to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
He claims that Narc officials omitted his name from the list of nominees presented to the IEBC, “despite him having qualified to be in the list and despite him having no affiliation to any other political party in Kenya”.
“The affiliate parties of Azimio have individually nominated persons to the National Assembly under the guise of Article 97 of the Constitution where in fact the respective nominations have been undertaken to award the political cronies of the said affiliate parties. This action or conduct of the affiliate parties of Azimio is ultra vires the provisions of the Constitution 2010,” says Mr Gachoka.
Through Miller & Company Advocates, the journalist adds that none of the Azimio Coalition affiliate parties nominated to the National Assembly a person living with disability, “which is absolute contravention of the provisions of Article 97 of the Constitution and therefore the said nominations are null and void” from the beginning.
“The petitioner being a person living with disability is the best suited for nomination under that category to represent the Azimio Coalition in the National Assembly,” it states.
He claims that there was a malicious intent to keep him off the party list, and that the decision amounts to condemning him to silence and a violation of his legitimate expectations.
Mr Gachoka requests that the court rule that Narc’s decision to leave his name off the party list submitted to the IEBC was illegal, irregular, and null and void. He also wants the list to be removed.
In addition, he wants the court to order Narc to submit an amended list to the IEBC that includes him as the first nominee to represent people with disabilities.
He claims that as a disabled person, he had a legitimate expectation to be ranked first on the nomination list.
