High court bars Evans Gor Semelang'o from contesting in Mathare by-election

Mathare, Kenya: Failure to leave office one month sooner has cost Former Youth Development Boss Evans Gor Semelango his chance to run in the Mathare by election next week.

High Court Judge Justice Mumbi Ngugi dismissed Semelango’s application to have his name included in the ballot papers.

In her judgment, Justice Ngugi stated that it did not matter whether he resigned or had his appointment revoked, the issue was he was still in office six months to the Mathare by election.

Semelango, dissatisfied by the court decision, then applied to appeal against the judgment.

“In my view, the time frame applied is less than the six months permitted by the constitution,” Justice Ngugi said.

Semelango was appointed the youth development fund chairman by President Mwai Kibaki on January 16, last year after serving for three years as a board member.

He became the shortest serving chairperson after his position was rescinded by President Uhuru Kenyatta on February 27 and his position taken by music producer Bruce Odhiambo on March 1, this year.

The Independent Boundary and Electoral Commission, during their submissions told the court that the aspiring politician had not meet some stipulations required to run in an election.

IEBC lawyer Edwin Mukele argued that six months to the election, Semelango was still a public officer in the government.

The lawyer maintained that they acted in full compliance of the law when they barred the petitioner from running for the election.

The Election Act, lawyer Edwin Mukele said, was put in place to stop public officers from interfering with elections.

The returning officer, Justice Ngugi heard, denied him the nomination certificate on the basis that he did not resign from his post Chairperson of the Board of the Youth Enterprises Development Fund within the six months period as stipulated in the Elections Act.

Semelango on the other hand, argued that the IEBC violated his rights by locking him out of the election citing that his appointment as a public officer ceased after it was revoked.

“Despite his appointment having been revoked, he is not eligible to vie as an independent candidate in the Mathare by Election. His petition must fail in this regard,” Justice Ngugi stated.

She noted that Semelango was cleared to run in the election by the registrar on June 18 but had his nomination revoked by the Returning Officer at St Triza Primary School.

The RO, the court heard, rejected the nomination because he failed to meet the necessary requirements, and an appeal before the Electoral Dispute Resolution Tribunal failed after they upheld the decision of the IEBC official.

The Mathare seat was declared vacant after the court of appeal nullified the election of TNA’s George Wanjohi citing that he was not validly elected after ODM’s Stephen Kariuki filed an election petition.