MP loses last bid to block petition

By Wahome Thuku

Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara has lost his final bid to scuttle an election petition against him.

And in hearings dominated by comical episodes, Waibara now awaits the court judgement next month to determine whether or not he would continue serving as MP.

One of the key issues for determination will be the veracity of an allegation by the petitioner Bernard Chege Mburu that Waibara’s best friend Martin Kahura took a language proficiency test on his behalf to qualify for parliamentary candidacy.

Chege, a voter, claims that Waibara is a school dropout who cannot articulate himself in English and Kiswahili. He also accuses the MP of electoral irregularities, including bribery of voters and causing violence before and during the December 2007 polls.

Kahura told the court he sat the test for Waibara. "I agreed to do so for free and out of mercy," he said.

But Education Ministry official Fredrick Iraya testified that he sat in the seven-member board that administered proficiency examinations to Waibara on November 1, 2007.

Captivating

The hearings got captivating as Waibara sought to prove he was proficient in English and Kiswahili with the petitioner working to demonstrate that the MP could not construct a sentence in either of the languages.

On Wednesday Justice Fred Ochieng dismissed the last application by Waibara to disqualify himself on the argument that the court had no legal authority to hear the petition. The application was filed only days ago by Waibara’s lawyer Evans Ondieki.

He argued that the court was not properly appointed to hear the petition since former Chief Justice Evan Gicheru quoted the wrong provisions of the old constitution in the gazette notice of appointment.

The petitioner’s lawyers demolished the argument and the judge concurred that gazetting of the court was only an administrative procedure with no constitutional requirement.

Justice Ochieng will deliver the verdict on August 26, just a year before the next General Election.

The decision will either send the constituency to a by-election even before August next year or give Waibara a clean bill of health.