Petitioners to appeal ruling on nullification of 12 MCAs nominated to Murang’a assembly
Petitioners who filed a case seeking to nullify the nomination of 12 Members of County Assembly (MCAs) to the Murang'a county assembly have expressed their dissatisfaction with the court ruling.
The petitioners said they wanted the entire list of the nominated MCAs in the gender top-up list and marginalized groups to be scrapped but only two were thrown out.
The court in its ruling only found two nominated MCAs Prisca Njeri and Julian Njiiri to be unlawfully in the position as they are not registered voters in Murang'a county.
Senior Resident magistrate Susan Mwangi directed the IEBC to replace the two with the next females in the county voters register.
The petition was filed against Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), AuDa party and nominated MCAs; Damaris Muthoni, Hannah Wairimu, Pauline Muchiri, Jane Mukami, Gladys Wambui, Prisca Njeri, Mark Gicheru, Anthony Marubu, Sherleen Wambui and Julian Njiiri.
Rose Muthoni from Gatanga, one of the petitioners, said the ruling was not satisfactory and they want to appeal the case.
She claimed that she was among the people to be nominated going by the list which had been drawn by the leaders but their names were swapped and replaced with other people.
"We were the foot soldiers for the party during the campaigns and we had been promised to get the nominations slots but we were unfairly thrown out," Muthoni said.
"There was an initial list which had been signed up by all the elected leaders but what was published was different and we suspect it was tampered with" she added.
Joseph Munyao from Ithanga noted that if the court saw two MCAs were not fit, it meant that even the others were not rightfully holding the positions.
He said the same process was used to nominate all the MCAs and thus none of them should have been spared.
"We want a better explanation why the court nullified the nomination of the two MCAs and not all the 12," Munyao stated.
"The end result is as good as the process and we feel all MCAs went through the same process and thus they should be thrown out," he added.
Kieru Ndichu, UDA chairman in Gatanga, said a fresh nomination process should be conducted and those deserving of the seats to take up the nominations.
He claimed that in the list the marginalized and minorities were not represented, adding that the next process should be transparent.
"We want the whole list nullified and fresh nominations conducted for the gender top-up list and the marginalized group so that those deserving the seats get them, Ndichu said.
