Civil servants interested in politics will not have to vacate office six months to elections

Civil servants will not be required to resign from their positions six months before contesting political positions in Kenya.

The High Court declared as unconstitutional, a section of the electoral law, which requires public officers to have vacated offices half a year before the election date.

High Court judge Isaac Lenaola declared Section 43(5) of the Elections Act as unconstitutional, as he cleared Wilson Kangethe Mburu, a former State House employee, to run for the Kabete parliamentary seat in the coming by election.

"A declaration is hereby issued that save for any other lawful reason, Mburu is qualified to contest the by-election for member of the National Assembly for Kabete Constituency," Justice Lenaola ruled.

The clause in the Elections Act meant that because the period between announcement of a by-election and the poll itself is 90 days, no civil servant could qualify to run in any mini-poll.

Many civil servants have suffered as a result of the clause, including former Youth Fund boss Gor Semelang'o, who was locked out of the Mathare by-election because he didn't quit the civil service six months before the mini-poll date.

The judge issued a permanent injunction restraining the IEBC from barring a public officer from contesting a by-election on the ground that the officer had not resigned from office.

The judge ordered that the judgment be forwarded to the Attorney General and the IEBC to consider amendments to the section in the Elections Act.

He made the determination in two joint petitions, one filed by the union of civil servants and the other by Kang'ethe, challenging the constitutionality of the section.