Nine UDA nominated MCAs appeal ouster

Two petitioners, Celestine Mutai and Robert Kiptanui filed the case against UDA and IEBC. [iStockphoto]

Nine United Democratic Alliance (UDA) nominated Members of County Assembly (MCAs) have moved to the Court of Appeal to save their jobs.

The aggrieved politicians moved to the appellate court after the High Court upheld a ruling revoking their nomination.

The nominated MCAs filed a notice of appeal seeking suspension of last week's judgment issued by Justice Stephen Riech, pending the determination of their second appeal.

"Take notice that the nine appellants, being dissatisfied with the judgment of the honourable Justice Stephen Riech delivered on September 1, 2023, in the election petition, intends to appeal to this honourable Court of Appeal against the whole decision...," the MCAs stated in their notice of appeal.

Last week, Justice Riech, who presided over the case virtually, dismissed the appeal filed by the nominated MCAs at the High Court.

The MCAs had filed the appeal against a judgment issued by the Eldoret Chief Magistrate on March 15, nullifying their nomination to the County Assembly.

While delivering the judgment, Justice Riech agreed with Chief Magistrate Dennis Mikoyan's decision, stating that UDA, as well as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), while nominating the MCAs, relied on a list that had been declared null and void by the Political Parties Tribunal.

"The only genuine list of the nominated MCAs was the one dated July 27, 2022, and not the one filed by UDA on August 24, 2022," the court stated last week.

Justice Riech said that he did not find any error in the ruling made by the chief magistrate.

He stated that the UDA Party did not have any powers to revise, amend or review the party list once it was closed on July 27 last year.

The court had also ordered the degazettement of the party list, which was gazetted on September 9, 2022.

Mikoyan had noted that a valid party list had been submitted and published on the IEBC website and in The Standard on July 27, last year, days before elections.

However, weeks later, on August 24, a revised list was published, omitting the names of most of the nominees, who had been listed in the prior list.

The court was told that even after the political parties' tribunal nullified the new list following complaints by the affected party members, the IEBC ignored the same and went ahead to rely on the nullified list.

"Any Member of the County Assembly of Uasin Gishu who was gazetted upon nomination based on the list published on August 24, 2022, was not validly elected by way of nomination. The only valid list is that of July 27, 2022. In conclusion, the County Assembly of Uasin Gishu is only properly constituted as per the list that was gazetted on July 27. The gazetted MCAs were not validly elected by way of nomination," the court held.

Two petitioners, Celestine Mutai and Robert Kiptanui filed the case against UDA and IEBC.