Kenyans living abroad want the March 4 elections suspended until they are registered as voters.
In a petition filed under certificate of urgency they are also seeking the court to bar Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from publishing or gazetting voters’ registers until the suit is heard and determined.
They have moved to court over the failure by IEBC to register them as voters for the coming general election as only voters living within East African countries would be allowed to take part in the election.
Jeffer Isaak Kanu through lawyer John Khaminwa submit in the petition that all the people living in the diaspora had a right to participate in the affair of the country and particularly the right to be registered as voters and participate in the elections.
Kanu noted that the promulgation of the new constitution saw the enactment of Article 38 which elevates and jealously guards the right of every citizen to enjoy political rights enumerated thereon including the right to be registered as a voter and to vote in a free, fair and transparent election.
“While enacting the constitution the aspirations of the people were clear that [persons living in the Diaspora have the right to participate in the legitimate political process manifested through free, fair and regular elections,” submitted Kanu.
Kanu has sued Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, IEBC, Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIOC) and the Attorney General (AG).
The petitioner is seeking the court to declare that the action and inaction of the IEBC which purported to exclude persons from the Diaspora from exercising the right to vote as enshrined in the constitution was a breach of his political rights thus unconstitutional null and void.
He further wants the court to declare the move by the IEBC to allow a select few to be registered as voters while purporting to exclude persons living in the Diaspora from participating in the March 4 this year general election as discriminatory.
They want the court to hold the IEBC in breach of the aspirations of the people of Kenya, as their sovereign power was reserved under Article 1 of the constitution and the national values and principles of governance set out under Article 10 of the constitution.
Kanu wants the court to declare the decision by the cabinet to exclude persons from Diaspora from exercising the right to vote in the forthcoming general election as flimsy and violates constitutional provisions.
“A declaration to issue directing IEBC to exercise its statutory and constitutional duty and to forth with undertake voter registration of persons in the diaspora with immediate effect so as to allow them participate in the coming general election,” Kanu prayed to the court.
High court Judge David Majanja directed the petitioner to serve and the case be heard on December 11, this year.
Source:standardmedia.co.ke
