IEBC invalidates Sonko's candidacy in Mombasa governor race
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko.
Mombasa County electoral body returning officer has revoked clearance certificate given to Mike Sonko for governor contest after Supreme Court upheld his impeachment.
Through its Mombasa county Returning Officer Swalha Ibrahim, the Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) further revoked the clearance certificate it issued to Mr Sonko last week. The certificate had given him the go ahead to contest for the gubernatorial seat.
The invalidation of Mr Sonko’s candidacy and revocation of his clearance certificate by IEBC, comes barely three days after the Supreme Court upheld his impeachment as governor of Nairobi.
Public office
“In adherence to the Supreme Court judgement, you are therefore disqualified from holding any public office and thus disqualified from contesting and being elected as Governor Mombasa county or any other county,” said Ms Ibrahim in her letter to Mr Sonko dated July 18.
Ms Ibrahim further stated that the main ground as to why the High Court allowed Mr Sonko’s registration as a candidate was the active appeal he had filed at the Supreme Court.
“Considering the fact that the Supreme Court is the apex court in terms of judicial hierarchy, there can be no other appeal and in fact there is none,” said Ms Ibrahim.
On Thursday last week, the electoral agency cleared the former Nairobi governor to vie for Mombasa governor’s seat a day after a three judge bench of the High Court ordered it to accept his nomination papers.
On June 7, Ms Ibrahim disqualified Mr Sonko from vying for the governor’s seat in Mombasa for breach of Article 75 of the constitution prompting him to challenge the decision at the dispute resolution committee, which upheld it.
Mr Sonko then moved to the High Court seeking to have the decision by Ms Ibrahim and the IEBC’s dispute resolution committee disqualifying him as a candidate for Mombasa governor contest quashed.
The three judge bench comprising Justices Olga Sewe, Stephen Githinji, Anne Ong'injo which allowed the petition had also issued a declaration that Mr Sonko is eligible under the Constitution to contest as a candidate for the position of Governor Mombasa.
And on Friday, the Supreme Court upheld Mr Sonko’s impeachment saying it was in compliance with the Constitution and the law thus found no merit in the appeal by the former governor.
The appeal at the Supreme Court by Mr Sonko arose out of the earlier Court of Appeal and High Court decisions that upheld his impeachment by the Nairobi City County Assembly in 2020 before being ratified by the Senate in December of the same year.
