Bar tainted politicians from the August polls

With the General Election less than three months away, it’s worrying that several candidates of questionable integrity have been cleared to contest for various positions. As if the question of integrity were not bad enough, there are many more prospective candidates with pending criminal cases in court, who have similarly been cleared.

Some of these politicians stand a good chance of being elected, their questionable backgrounds notwithstanding. A good case in point is that of former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko, who was impeached for abuse of office, among a litany of charges. Mr Sonko has since relocated to Mombasa, where recent opinion polls indicate that he’s one of the front-runners for the county’s gubernatorial seat.

While the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have unequivocally stated that integrity should be a key consideration for clearance of prospective candidates by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, their efforts have been frustrated by the same leaders who have taken advantage of legal loopholes to circumvent the integrity requirement.

IEBC has maintained that those with court cases, like Mr Sonko, are free to run for any elective post. Legally sound as that argument may be, wouldn’t it be more judicious to keep political leaders with integrity issues away from public office until that point when they have been cleared by the courts?

More importantly, why not consider reviewing certain sections of the Constitution to bar people with questionable integrity from public office, as has been recommended by the anti-corruption commission?

It’s self-defeating to have one set of laws aimed at upholding integrity on one hand and on the other, another set that gives tainted leaders the carte blanche to run free.