Nairobian wants IEBC to revert to ‘mlolongo’ system

A city voter wants to be enjoined in a case seeking revocation of a printing tender award to a United Arab Emirates-based company.

Anthony Chege Njoroge, 43, argued that the tender should be abandoned and Kenyans left to elect their president using the queue system.

“By adopting the queue system, Kenya will spend only Sh100,000 to conduct a successful presidential election compared to the Sh2.5 billion in contention,” the Maragua native argued in his court papers filed on Friday.

Mr Njoroge said he was convinced the queue system would settle matters and that is why he wanted to be a party to the case filed by the National Super Alliance against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and Al-Ghurair, the firm charged with printing the papers.  

BALLOT PAPER DEBACLE

“My right will be grossly violated if I am not enjoined in this case,” he said.

His lawyer Kimandu Gichohi added: “If the suit continues in my client’s absence, the court may order re-tendering or continuation of the tender without considering the queue voting option.”

Insisting that he did not support the tender to Al Ghurair or re-tendering to another firm, Mr Njoroge said going back to the “mlolongo” system that gained infamy during the 1988 elections would be Kenya’s solution to the ballot paper debacle.

“I support a voting pattern that is cheap, simple, and less time-consuming,” Mr Njoroge insisted.

The case will be heard today.