IEBC Appeals Court Order to Include Reuben Kigame in the Presidential Race

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has filed an appeal against a High Court ruling that ordered the clearance of gospel singer Reuben Kigame as a presidential candidate in the August 9th elections.

Stating that the order will affect election timelines, IEBC insists that Kigame failed to meet the 48,000 signature requirement in line with Article 137 of the Constitution, hence his nomination was invalid.

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati indicated that Kigame only presented a list of 1,013 supporters as of May 25th which was the deadline for submission of the list of nominating supporters.

“The Commission has not had sight of any other list of supporters adverted to in the Court’s Judgment and is not aware that the list of supporters was presented before the Honourable Court 2 to enable the Court arrive at the conclusions contained in the Judgment,” Chebukati stated.

With the elections only 19 days away, IEBC argues that adding Kigame to the ballot is not feasible as it would require the reprogramming of all the 55,650 KIEMS kits and redesigning and printing of ballot papers.

“The reprinting, repackaging and eventual rebooking and rescheduling of flights to deliver the pallets to the central warehouse which the printer confirms will not be possible in time for the general elections slated for the 9th of August, 2022,” Cebukati stated.

“The cost of printing new ballot papers and rescheduling freight is not less than eight (8) million Euros (approximately Sh971million). This amount is not in the Commission’s election budget. The said processes, subject to availability of the budget, require a minimum of thirty (30) days, yet we are at nineteen (19) days to the general election,” he added.

On Monday, High Court judge Anthony Mrima ordered IEBC to accept Kigame’s presidential nomination papers, declaring that the commission violated his rights in disqualifying him from the race.

The judge noted that given his disability (visual impairment), the effort Kigame demonstrated in collecting signatures should suffice as far as meeting the required threshold goes.

“The Petitioner has demonstrated exemplary effort in complying with the requirements despite his disability and without any special treatment as is so required in the Constitution and the law, this Court is satisfied that, on account of the disability and the effort demonstrated, the signatures of the supporters collected by the Petitioner which are already in the possession together with those which the Petitioner had collected, but were not received by the IEBC suffice the requirement for the signatures. The Petitioner shall, therefore, not be disqualified on account of insufficient number of signatures of his supporters,” read the ruling.