Suicidal presidential aspirant sues IEBC
What you need to know:
- Through lawyer Gachie Mwanza, he argued that he was ‘unreasonably ‘locked out of KICC on grounds that the time had lapsed because he allegedly arrived there on time and his submissions had been rejected on the first instance.
- He alleged that IEBC rejected his nomination signatures yet he had a legitimate expectation that he would be cleared and given a green light to vie.
A Presidential aspirant who was arrested and charged with attempted suicide has now sued the electoral agency seeking to be allowed to submit signatures of people who nominated him to vie.
Mr Peter Solomon Gichira claims that he faces an imminent threat of being denied the right to vie as an independent candidate for the office of the President.
He accuses the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of refusing to allow him to submit his list of signatures of supporters as required by locking him out of the exercise of presenting nominations papers at KICC.
“There is an extremely urgent need to rein on IEBC before any ballot paper for the Presidential elections are printed,” said Mr Gichira.
Through lawyer Gachie Mwanza, he argued that he was ‘unreasonably ‘locked out of KICC on grounds that the time had lapsed because he allegedly arrived there on time and his submissions had been rejected on the first instance.
Mr Mwanza claimed that the rejection was because his list of signatures had not been submitted in a Microsoft Excel format yet he had earlier filed a suit at the High Court to protest against that requirement.
And Justice George Odunga had on May 26 ruled that the requirement was indeed unlawful and stopped the IEBC from rejecting his lists using it.
He terms the rejections as offensive, unconstitutional and contrary to public policy.
He also claimed that he has encountered a hurdle in his quest to run for the country’s top seat while referring to the case in which he was charged with attempted suicide, malicious damage and creating disturbance.
He alleged that IEBC rejected his nomination signatures yet he had a legitimate expectation that he would be cleared and given a green light to vie.
He now accuses IEBC of abusing its powers.
“The said decision was in any event contrary to the rules of natural justice. I was prevented from seeking an audience with the officers of the IEBC and was not accorded a hearing,” Mr Gichira said.
He was arrested on Saturday, detained at Central police station before being charged at Milimani law courts on Monday and was freed on Sh200,000 cash bail.
Mr Gichira now wants the court to temporarily stop the IEBC’s preparations for the Presidential elections since, despite the verdict, he has not been able to present his list of signatures.
