Thirdway Alliance presidential hopeful Ekuru Aukot is heading to the High Court to seek orders to nullify the recently concluded presidential nomination exercise.
In a press statement on Monday, June 27, Aukot opined that IEBC led by Wafula Chebukati had committed a lot of irregularities that warrant the nullification of the entire exercise.
He revealed that his party has carried out thorough auditing of the clearance process and identified several loopholes.
“Our party, Thirdway Alliance Kenya undertook investigations, auditing of the process and due diligence on the purported presidential nomination process at Bomas of Kenya president over by Wafula Chebukati, in his capacity as the national returning officer,” he said.
Aukot alleges that the commission couldn't have managed to independently verify more than 3 million signatures from across the 47 counties in 5 days.
“While the commission claimed that they had no internal capacity to verify the Punguza Mzigo Kenya’s 1.4 million signatures in 2019, and had to hire 125 casuals, this year the commission miraculously managed to verify over 3.2 million signatures and 3.2 million copies of identity documents in less 5 days” the statement read in part.
Ekuru Aukot was taking second stab at presidency
Aukot who was making his second attempt at the presidency accused the commission of applying different standards in clearing presidential aspirants.
The presidential hopeful wondered why some candidates were cleared yet had not met the requisite educational standards as per the law.
“The whole exercise was a sham replete with bias, discrimination, inconsistency, and failure to equitably apply IEBC’s guidelines and regulations. It flouted not just the constitution of Kenya 2010, but also the enabling legislation,” Aukot stated.
“We shall move to court seeking orders to verify and scrutinize how the IEBC managed to perform the miracle. IEBC has effectively overstepped its mandate and usurped the people’s power as enshrined under Article 1 of the Constitution,” he added.
The Thirdway Alliance leader now joins Reuben Kagame, who had earlier petitioned the High Court seeking orders to overturn the IEBC decision.
On Sunday, June 26, the renowned gospel singer vowed to call on his supporters to shun the August 9 General Elections if the IEBC fails to include him on the presidential ballot paper.
“Let it be known. If we are not on the ballot by the time it is printed, I and my many followers will boycott not only the election but every media company and product associated with anyone who has brought us to this point as a country. IEBC should enable not hinder,” Kigame said in a Twitter post on Sunday.
