Tribunal nullifies Tim Wanyonyi ODM nomination
Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi.
Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi is facing a fresh hurdle in his bid to defend the parliamentary seat after the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal nullified the decision of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party to nominate him as its candidate in the forthcoming polls.
This is even as his rival for the ODM ticket, Michael Magero Gumo, says he is escalating the dispute to the High Court for determination on whether Mr Wanyonyi should participate in the repeat nominations ordered by the tribunal on Friday since he was not a contestant in the first round.
The tribunal said ODM erred in revoking the nomination of Mr Gumo, who won in the primaries conducted last month on April 22, 2022. Mr Wanyonyi was not a contender in the primaries as he was focusing on Nairobi Governorship.
He later stepped down from the gubernatorial race after his party’s coalition, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya, nominated former deputy governor Polycarp Igathe as its candidate.
The party revoked Mr Gumo's certificate and issued Mr Wanyonyi with a direct ticket, triggering a legal battle by Mr Gumo.
Fresh nominations
While ruling on a complaint filed by Magero, the tribunal directed ODM to conduct fresh nominations within three days (72 hours). Initially, the party had been stopped from submitting Mr Wanyonyi's name to the electoral commission.
Through lawyer Duncan Okatch, Mr Gumo said he is escalating the battle to the High Court because the tribunal did not determine whether Mr Wanyonyi can participate in the repeat nominations having not participated in the first exercise.
"The repeat exercise should be for the people who participated in the first exercise. Mr Wanyonyi did not even pay nomination fees for the MP seat," said Mr Gumo.
Seven contenders
The lawyer indicated that in the primaries Mr Gumo garnered 1,661 votes while his closest challenger got 627. There were seven contenders for the ODM party ticket in the constituency.
“The victory has not even been disputed by other aspirants and it is therefore against the principles of justice to deny him the party certificate. His numerous requests to the ODM to be issued with the certificate or at the very least reasons why he is yet to be issued with a provisional certificate have not elicited any response,” said Mr Okatch.
The lawyer stated that his client having won in the primaries had legitimate expectation that he would be issued with the nomination certificate.
He added that he expended a lot of resources and time to marshal the support for his parliamentary bid.
