Counties free to debate Ekuru Aukot's Punguza Mizigo Bill

What you need to know:

  • This was after High Court Judge John Mativo Tuesday vacated the order stopping debate after the petitioner David Kariuki Ngari failed to appear in court during the mentioning of the case.

County assemblies can now debate the proposed amendment of the Constitution fronted by ThirdWay Alliance party, popularly known as Punguza Mizigo.

This was after High Court Judge John Mativo Tuesday vacated the order stopping debate after the petitioner David Kariuki Ngari failed to appear in court during the mentioning of the case.

Mr Ngari and International Economic Law Centre had obtained orders stopping members of county assemblies from debating and approving the bill, pending determination of the case.

He had named Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Speakers of National Assembly and Senate, and 47 speakers of the county assemblies and Thirdway Alliance as respondents in the case.

In the petition, Mr Ngari had argued that the bill was procured through deceit and illegalities since the signatures, which had been verified by IEBC, are not genuine.

He argued that the uniformity of the signatures raises the question of authenticity and reliability of the signed forms and that it was impossible to verify the signatures because the electoral body does not have a repository of specimen signatures for comparison.