NGO Files Case in the High Court to Bar Raila from Running for Office

A human rights advocate has filed a petition in the High Court to bar former Prime Minister and ODM leader Raila Odinga from running for office.

Robert Onyango with the Human Rights Africa NGO says Raila has been mentioned in several mega scandals that have never been resolved, and therefore does not meet the integrity requirements as defined in Chapter 6 of the Kenyan Constitution.

 “The 1st respondent in particular, has never been publicly cleared of wrongdoings or involvement in the said scandals. Therefore, substantive questions of the 1st respondent’s integrity, both of his person and character on his suitability to vie for public or state office remain unanswered,” the petition from Human rights Africa through Onyango reads.

Onyango cited Raila’s alleged involved in the Maize, Triton, Molasses and Dominion Farms scandals, and in addition to being barring Raila from office, wants the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) as well as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to charge him in the alleged involvement in the scandals.

The NGO also wants Raila to be compelled to produce his Master of Science in Mechanics degree certificate, saying the former Prime Minister has never provided evidence that he indeed attained the master’s degree.

“The 1st respondent has always claimed publicly that he attended university between the years of 1965-1970 to study a Master of Sciences in Mechanical Engineering. So far, he has only produced a certificate acquired in the years of 1962-1965, Certificate of Higher Education from Herder Institute, Leipzig, German Democratic Republic, with competence in German Language. The lack of clarity emanates from the fact that the university in which the 1st Respondent claims to have attended only recently became a university and hence could not by all means have conferred a degree in 1970,” the petition reads.