Will Sonko be on the ballot? Chebukati explains IEBC's next move

In a joint media interview on election preparedness Wednesday evening, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan appeared to speak at cross purposes on the commission’s next course of action in regard to Sonko’s matter.

According to Chebukati, the commission is not keen on appealing the High Court ruling allowing Sonko to vie since the electoral body is currently facing serious time constraints in regards to the printing of ballot papers.

The IEBC Chairman implied that the commission would move on and comply with the High Court verdict and let the impeachment issue be handled by the Supreme Court.

“As a commission, we must obey the orders and enforce. It will have to be enforced and complied with… But that notwithstanding, I’m aware the issue around impeachment is at the Supreme Court and will be heard perhaps tomorrow. In future, there will be clarity along that line. 

“But for us, how we operate, we follow the law and implement court orders as they come. We don't have a choice on that. 26 days to the election, we must finish printing ballot papers. Actually, we are even late in making changes to the ballot papers,” said Chebukati.

He added: “In most of these cases we don’t have time to take any other action. I have not read the judgement but as a commission, we would want to finalise this process so that we give Kenyans credible elections on the 9th of August.”

On his part, however, IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan indicated that the commission would wait for the Supreme Court verdict on Sonko’s impeachment.

Marjan went ahead to disclose that the commission had already stopped printing ballot papers for the Mombasa Governor race

“As a commission, we have not made a decision on whether we are going to appeal or not. What is important for us is to wait for the Supreme Court to assert itself on this matter. The Mombasa Court took the decision because of the pending case at the Supreme Court,” he said.

“There is a difference in interpretation of two sections of the law... Whereas we see one as a stand-alone, others see it as being intertwined. We only have two days, the best thing is to wait and not jump the gun.”

On whether the commission will receive Sonko’s nomination papers in line with the Mombasa High Court ruling, the IEBC bosses said the decision lies in the hands of the Mombasa County Returning Officer.

“It is the decision of the Returning Officer on whether or not to receive Sonko's papers. Even the IEBC chairman cannot tell the Returning Officer what to do... What we do is provide advice to the Returning Officer,” said Marjan.

In disqualifying Sonko from vying in the August elections, IEBC cited Article 75(3) which states: “A person who is removed from office on contravention of Chapter 6 of the Constitution is disqualified from holding any other State or public office whether elective or appointive.”

However, a three-judge bench sitting in Mombasa on Wednesday ruled that Sonko has an appeal pending at the Supreme Court and has not exhausted his options for contesting his impeachment.

The judges also noted that Sonko had submitted all the requisite documents to the IEBC for clearance to vie for the position of Mombasa Governor on time.