Why Murang’a poll case had Jubilee top brass on tenterhooks

The dramatic events that saw Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau drop his bid to re-contest for Murang’a gubernatorial seat can be revealed.

The MP - who lost to Governor Mwangi wa Iria had moved to the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal (PPDT) seeking to stop Jubilee Party from presenting Mr Wa Iria as its nominee for the seat in the upcoming elections.

VOTERS LIST
In his complaint, Mr Kamau alleged that Mr wa Iria committed ‘serious’ election malpractices during the nomination exercise that was held on April 25 and 26 in Murang’a.

He alleged that the register of voters used was faulty and questioned Jubilee Party’s moral authority, suggesting it allowed “prohibited persons affiliated to it to vote more than once”.

In his petition, the MP stated that Jubilee, which was listed as the first respondent in the case, has a total of 119,836 duly registered party members in Murang’a County.

JAMLECK'S AGENTS
Of this, he said, he got 118,274 of the total votes cast, while Mr wa Iria had 203,941.

The Governor, in his replying affidavit stated that the issue on voters register was not part of the complaints in the original petition to the Jubilee Appeals Tribunal.

“It is also strange that during the first nomination held on April 21, 2017, before it was cancelled by the party due to logistical challenges and a repeat ordered for April 26, 2017, the same register was used yet Mr Kamau never raised any complaint with the party or at all,” the governor noted.

He added that not even Mr Kamau’s agents raised an issue with the register.

REPEAT NOMINATION
The governor also accused Mr Kamau of flouting the tribunal’s rules by not swearing an affidavit to support his case.

The affidavit calling for cancellation of the results is sworn by one Maina Gatundu who is also a complainant in the appeal.

Despite the protestations of Mr wa Iria, the Tribunal ordered that the Murang’a gubernatorial nominations poll be repeated within 48 hours, Mr Kamau, in a strange turn of events, chose not to take part in the ordered repeat nomination.

Though Governor wa Iria moved to the High Court to challenge the ruling, it is now emerging that Jubilee top operatives who were fearful of the repercussions of a repeat poll-given that Mr Kamau had cited use of a ‘faulty’ register in the nomination Mr wa Iria won, could have prevailed on Kamau to drop his bid for a repeat poll.

FAULTY LIST

There are suggestions that President Uhuru Kenyatta personally intervened and promised Mr Kamau a post, possibly nomination to Parliament, if he dropped the bid.

The fear was that a repeat nomination in Murang’a would have validated the notion that the register used by Jubilee in the nomination was faulty, thus triggering a myriad of such cases, which could have messed up Jubilee’s already drawn list of aspirants.

“Such a ruling would have opened us to all many of unseen repercussions,  not only us but all parties,” a source said.

The High Court subsequently overturned the finding of the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal.