IEBC wants Sh20m from lobby groups in polls case

Kenya: The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is now demanding more than Sh20 million from four non-governmental organisations which tried to block the candidature of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto ahead of last year’s general election.

IEBC has filed the claim against the four NGOs and one Charles Ndung’u Mwangi as its costs for successfully defending the petitions, which were dismissed by the High Court.

However, the four organisations involved in human rights and constitutional affairs are still waiting for similar bills from Uhuru and Ruto as well as the Attorney General’s office in accordance with the ruling made by the court.

The four NGOs are International Centre for Policy and Conflict (ICPC), the Public Corruption, Ethics and Governance, the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the International Commission of Jurists – Kenya.

Interested party

They had filed four separate petitions in December 2012 challenging the candidature of Uhuru and had named IEBC, the AG, Uhuru and Ruto as respondents and the National Alliance (TNA) party as an interested party.

The organisations sought a declaration that the nomination of Uhuru and Ruto as candidates was a violation of the Constitution as they were facing trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). They also wanted the IEBC barred from accepting their nomination but the electoral body said striking out Uhuru and Ruto’s names from ballot papers would have cost Sh1.6 billion.