After Kethi, Agnes Ndetei in court against Mutula Kilonzo Jnr

A legal battle over Wiper Party’s candidate for the Makueni Senatorial by-election took a new twist after a former assistant minister filed a notice of appeal to block Wiper Democratic Movement from nominating another candidate.

Mrs Agnes Ndetei, in her notice of appeal, says that she is dissatisfied with the High Court decision that gave Wiper Democratic Movement a second chance to nominate another candidate after the lapse of the nomination deadline put by the electoral commission.

“Mrs Ndetei is dissatisfied with part of the judgment which directed Wiper to nominate another candidate for the by-election scheduled for July 26,” said lawyer Alphonce Mutinda.

Mrs Ndetei’s move will once again haunt the late Mutula Kilonzo’s family if she succeeds in challenging the nomination of Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.

Soon after Mutula’s daughter Kethi Kilonzo was cleared to contest with the hopes of assuming her late father's senatorial seat, Mrs Ndetei succeeded in blocking her by challenging her registration as a voter.

She filed a complaint before the IEBC dispute resolution tribunal and although she admitted to taking up the issue after failing to persuade Ms Kilonzo to contest on a Jubilee Coalition ticket, she won the battle with the tribunal’s declaration that Ms Kilonzo was not a validly registered voter.

Ms Kilonzo then filed a petition challenging the declaration but Justices Richard Mwongo, Weldon Korir and Mumbi Ngugi on Friday last week upheld the tribunal’s decision to revoke her nomination certificate.

The judges however gave Wiper Party and the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy a lifeline by giving them a second chance to nominate another candidate to contest the senatorial seat.

The judges ruled that the committee had violated the party’s legitimate expectation to field a candidate which would ultimately deny the party’s supporters opportunity to elect a leader of their choice.

They said that the legitimate expectation of a party to field a candidate cannot be taken away since the Constitution gives people the power to elect leaders of their choice to represent them and that the political process can only be robust if all parties are allowed to field a candidate.

According to the judges, there was no evidence that the party was aware that Ms Kilonzo was not a registered voter and faulted the IEBC tribunal for failing to accord them the chance to nominate an alternative candidate.

They added that the constitution is about opening spaces for political participation and in their view, the party did not contravene any law to warrant locking it out of the by-election.

Soon after the judgment, the Cord luminaries unveiled Mutula Kilonzo Jnr as their candidate and presented him before the Makueni County Returning Officer on Saturday morning where he was issued with a nomination certificate.