ODM governor aspirant Fernandes Barasa and his deputy Ayub Savula have said they are ready to testify against the electoral commission Monday, August 22, 2022, following what they termed "suspicious postponement" of the Kakamega County governor election.
The two told journalists Sunday that they were ready to face the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati and his team in court over the postponement.
"There is nothing to warrant the indefinite delay and that is what we will prove in court. We are reading political mischief in the whole saga and want the intervention of the court," said the duo who obtained orders from the High Court in Kakamega compelling Chebukati and IEBC to appear before it for the case.
Justice Patrick Otieno certified the case as urgent saying it could be heard even as the courts are in recess.
"Chebukati and the IEBC be served forthwith so that they may file responses within 36 hours for the matter to be heard inter-partes on Monday at 10am," said the judge on Friday.
The petition among other things is intended to compel the IEBC to hold the election on Tuesday as earlier stated after postponing it on August 8 due to erroneous printing of contestants' identities.
They said they, alongside Kakamega voters, were disturbed that on August 17, Chebukati had moved the elections to an indefinite date after promising they would be carried out on August 23.
"He (Chebukati) spoke to the effect that the (Tuesday) scheduled gubernatorial election in Kakamega and Mombasa counties, as well as the parliamentary polls for Kitui Rural, Pokot South, Rongai and Kacheliba together with Member of County Assembly elections in Nyaki West and Kwa Njenga Ward scheduled for August 23, had been postponed indefinitely," they said in their court papers.
"There was neither any legal reasoning, basis or foundation communicated from Chebukati or the Commission."
Through their lawyer James Namatsi, they now seek an order compelling Chebukati and IEBC to forthwith hold the election of the Governor of Kakamega County on Tuesday as earlier announced and gazetted.
"In the alternative, an order compelling the Chebukati and IEBC to forthwith gazette the date for the election of the governor of Kakamega County to be held within thirty (30) days (from August 9)," they say.
Outgoing governor Wycliffe Oparanya said IEBC does not have a good reason to suspend the elections. "We want the elections to go on as earlier planned on August 23 so that my successor can take the oath of office alongside other elected county chiefs," Oparanya told mourners at a funeral at Chebuyusi village in Navakholo sub-county on Saturday.
