NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 9 – The Chair of the County Assemblies Forum Ndegwa Wahome has advised Members of County Assembly (MCAs) seeking to become Members of Parliament in the August elections to stay put and not to resign.
Wahome told Capital FM News on Wednesday that there is “no known requirement for MCAs to resign from their positions to contest for the position”.
“Article 99(2) (d) of the constitution has been ably interpreted by the Courts which have made a determination that an MCA does not require to resign to contest for a parliamentary seat,” he said on telephone.
In a 2020 ruling by the court, Justice Weldon Korir stated that a sitting MCA is not qualified to contest for a parliamentary seat before resigning from the position.
Wahome however, noted that the decision was subsequently stayed by the court of Appeal” as he dismissed the applicability of the provision.
“Therefore, any hint that an MCA is required to resign to contest for a seat in parliament has no foundation in law, is unfortunate and its sheer harassment of MCAs by those who see them as competitors,” he explained.
Whereas the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is yet to issue direction on the matter, Wahome has urged the MCAs to remain calm and continue working for their people.
The Constitution, Article 99 (2) d stipulates that “a person is disqualified from being elected a member of Parliament if the person is a member of the county assembly.”
The provision is further bolstered by the Elections Act that stipulates that all public officers seeking elective positions have to vacate office six months to the General Election, in this case February 9, 2022.
The ambiguity on the subject prompted the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party to withdraw its notice that had directed the ward representatives to resign.
“The Party wishes to withdraw the notice until we seek urgent clarification from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC),” the party’s Secretary General Veronica Maina said.
The Party Leader of the Democratic Party and National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi on Tuesday urged the MCAs aspiring to seek higher electoral seats such as Presidential, Governors or Member of Parliament to resign to avoid being knocked out by a technicality.
The House Speaker cited the court case in which Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe has had a running petition filed against her by her 2017 competitor Kungú Waibara who wanted her term terminated by the court on the technicality of failure to resign six months before as Kiambu County MCA before she vied.
Waibara won the cases in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal respectively, but Kibe moved to the Supreme Court where the case is awaiting final determination.
