A tribunal has temporarily barred Parliament from forwarding names of persons nominated to the IEBC selection panel.

The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal granted the orders to Augustus Muli after Azimio coalition party sought to replace him from the list presented by political parties.

PPDT Vice chairperson Wilfred Mutubwa certified the application by the leader of National Liberal Party as urgent.

“In the interim, prayers number two and three of the application dated July 31, are hereby granted pending inter-parties hearing of the application,” the orders read.

Aggrieved by the attempt to delist him, Augustus sued Azimio la Umoja, political parties liaison committee and the secretary to the Parliamentary Service Commission.

He moved to court after Azimio wrote to Parliament to list Koki Muli of Wiper party as the nominee for the parliamentary party under the PPLC team.

The PPLC had written to PSC nominating its chairman Evans Misati, Nicodemus Bore of UDA and Augustus as its representatives.

But Azimio told PSC to kick out Augustus, first on grounds the list has men yet it should have at least one woman and on assertions that he failed the party’s vetting.

“The coalition resolved to nominate Koki Muli from Wiper Democratic Movement as the most suitable and competent nominee and formally submitted her name to the registrar of political parties for onward transmission to the PPLC for endorsement,” said Azimio secretary general Junet Mohamed.

Junet dismissed the PPLC’s endorsement of three men as its nominees, citing an outright contravention of IEBC laws.

“The nominee elected to represent the Azimio coalition was rejected by the coalition for lacking the requisite qualifications and credentials,” he said.

Following the developments, Augustus’ prayers are that Azimio be stopped from forwarding nominees to PSC – and ultimately to the President, without his name pending the hearing and determination of the complaint.

He also wants the court to stop the parliamentary service commission from forwarding the names of the nominees to the President for appointment of the IEBC selection panel.

Augustus wants the commission stopped from swearing-in or gazetting Koki Muli as a member of the IEBC hiring team.

President Ruto is in the process of constituting the selection panel to appoint the next chairperson and commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

He is expected to use a list forwarded by the PSC after receiving the nominations of various bodies with representatives in the nine-member panel.

So far, only three slots have been filled successfully. ICPAK nominated Andrew Tanui as its representative. 

The Inter-religious Council nominated Nelson Makanda of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya and Fatma Saman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum. The nominees for the LSK and PSC were yet to be unveiled.

PSC is supposed to nominate two persons, three for the case of the parties liaison outfit. In the PPLC slots, Azimio is entitled to one and the rest for UDA and a non-parliamentary party.

Augustus said Koki Muli lost the election which was held by the minority side in Machakos county on July 26 and neither Azimio nor PPLC can purport to alter his name as a nominee.

He argues that on the same day, the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties issued membership register of the PPLC of members eligible to participate in the vote.

Two candidates – Koki and Augustus, offered themselves and were cleared to run for the election. The latter got 16 votes while the latter garnered seven.

Azimio then sought to change the names in favour of Koki at a time PPLC had informed PSC there was no framework on achieving the two-thirds gender rule, on ground the process was competitive.

“The gender parity issue is being brought as a smokescreen by Azimio la Umoja and can be achieved in the other clusters. In any event, if candidates are subjected to an election, it is not automatic that any particular gender would be elected,” Augustus says.

The court process is likely to delay the formation of the IEBC team to replace Wafula Chebukati and other members of the commission.

IEBC operations including by-elections, boundary review and major procurements have been heavily impacted by the lack of commissioners.

Banisa constituency has not had an MP for months. A by-election is also imminent in Ugunja after President Ruto nominated MP Opiyo Wandayi as Energy Cabinet Secretary.