Sigh of relief for MP Samuel Arama after IEBC clearance

 

Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama cleared by IEBC to defend his seat for a third term on a Jubilee Party ticket. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

 

Candidates vying for the various parliamentary seats started submitting their documents to the electoral body earlier today.

Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama was the first in the county to present his papers to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) office in the constituency despite earlier doubts about his candidature.

His clearance was a big relief for him and his supporters following earlier speculations after his name appeared in the National Integrity Alliance (NIA) 'Red Card List' campaign launched by the civil rights group to stop politicians suspected of being involved in corruption to contest for any public office.

His was a moment of great pressure after misplacing some of the statutory documents needed for him to be cleared.

One of his proposers was missing in the Jubilee Party records but a supporter jumped in to save the day.

However, his moment of reprieve was short-lived after his clearance certificate by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) was missing from his file.

"I forgot the document at home in a different file. Give me some minutes to fetch it," said Arama, who returned with the certificate four minutes to elapse of his allocated time.

Speaking after receiving his IEBC clearance certificate, Arama said that he was ready to defend his seat after months of speculation that he would be barred over a court case.

"I am glad that the IEBC has cleared me ending speculations that I would not be in the race due to a court case that am fighting," said Arama.

Nakuru West Returning Officer Moses Ahete said that they were set to clear three MP candidates on Sunday and six others on Monday.

Arama will battle it out with Kamau Githengi of UDA, who is scheduled to return his nomination papers to IEBC for clearance today.

Peter Cheruiyot was also cleared to contest the Kuresoi south parliamentary seat on a Jubilee Party ticket.

Accompanied by his supporters, the former Jubilee Regional Coordinator arrived at the IEBC offices in Keringet at 2pm.

Cheruiyot is the Jubilee candidate for Kuresoi South MP seat currently held by Joseph Tonui who is defending the seat on a UDA ticket.

"I am glad to be back in the race. I vied for the seat in 2013 on a URP ticket but lost. This time I am confident that I will win," said Cheruiyot.

He said that he was determined to address challenges facing the residents among the poor roads and distribution of projects across the constituency.

Kuresoi South Returning officer Acenia Njoroge said that Cheruiyot was the only candidate to be cleared on Sunday.

"We shall clear three other candidates on Monday. The first candidate had all documents and we expect the same from the rest," said Njoroge.

Cheruiyot will contest against five other candidates namely; the incumbent Joseph Tonui of UDA, Mathew Langat of Kanu, Daisy Chebet (ANC), Dennis Koech (Ubuntu) and Edmond Ngetich an independent candidate.

The electoral agency has issued a schedule of how the aspirants will submit their papers for the next week beginning last Sunday.