CORD leadership is thinking of settling for Labour Party of Kenya’s Jane Kitundu as a plan B in case the High Court upholds the IEBC decision against Kethi Kilonzo.
The IEBC dispute Resolution Tribunal yesterday nullified Kethi's nomination as the Wiper Democratic Movement- Kenya candidate for the July 22 contest. The party may therefore have no candidate in its strong-hold.
Makueni MP Daniel Maanzo however said Wiper will pull all stops to ensure the IEBC verdict is overturned before “thinking of alternatives.” He said the party together with Kethi will take the battle to the High Court. Maanzo however admitted that Kitundu is one of their own.
“Of course she’s a Cord; Labour is under Cord…but we do not want to harp on that theme yet because our candidate of choice remains Kethi Kilonzo and we are sure the High Court will nullify the IEBC decision because it sat on its own decision,” Maanzo told the Star.
Kitundu ran for the Makueni Women Representative under the same LPK ticket in the March 4 poll but lost to Rose Museo of Wiper.
Kitundu said talks had already commenced with one Wiper MP calling her to offer support. Other sources confirmed that a meeting is being arranged between LPK leader Prof Julia Ojiambo, Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka, ODM’s Raila Odinga and Kethi to seal the deal.
Kitundu said what happened yesterday was “unfortunate” and it largely happened because “Kethi did not know what was happening and also because she is a green-horn in politics.”
“She is in Cord; I am in Cord too… if all doors are closed on her, we will join hands and if she agrees to accompany me in my rallies we will easily bag this seat and ward off Jubilee and PICK,” Kitundu told the Star on phone.
Kitundu comes from Kethi’s Mbooni constituency which was previously represented by Mutula Kilonzo. She said the only way to beat voter’s apathy is by Cord affiliates in the area- Labour, Muungano and Wiper joining hands and campaigning together.
“When they see us united and Kethi attending the rallies, they will come back and vote,” she said on reports that Makueni people would boycott the polls.
The obvious beneficiary of Cord supporter’s apathy- if it happens- is Jubilee’s Prof. Philip Kaloki and PICK’s Harun Mwau. Mwau yesterday told Mbaitu FM, a kamba vernacular station that Makueni people should resist the conspiracy to weaken them. He said Kethi should have been allowed to vie since she was cleared. “It is the voters who will make a choice between us,” he said.
Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana said his county will unite to ensure Jubilee is locked out. He blamed Kethi’s tribulations on Jubilee saying “Kenyans should be denied opportunity to contest in their own land.”Yesterday, scores of Makueni residents interviewed said they will wait for Wiper to offer direction.
Pastor Josephat Mbuvi, a Kethi supporter said Jubilee will be in for a surprise "if they thought barring Kethi would be a walk over.”
“We would rather woo Kethi to support Kitundu to win the seat instead of giving it to Kaloki,” he said.
Yesterday's events shook the Wiper Party. Kalonzo issued a terse statement calling on all CORD members who turned out to vote in the last election at Ngong Forest Primary School and were turned away because their names did not appear on the register of voters to volunteer quickly before midday today.
At the Milimani courts where the tribunal handed down its verdict, Kethi supporters broke into wild jeers and anti-Jubilee slogans.
In the ruling, the three member committee chaired by Thomas Letangule held that Kethi, who was seeking to inherit the seat following her father’s death, was not a registered voter hence could not have been validly nominated to vie for the Makueni Senatorial seat.
Kethi had been cleared to run to vie in the by election on the basis of the acknowledgment slip she produced. Her party had defended her nomination saying she was validly cleared by the Makueni returning officer Salad Boru.
“Kethi herself did not seem to know the physical place where she claimed to have been registered,” the tribunal ruled. It also said Kethi could not have been registered because she did not use her original identity card during the process.
It was a double loss for her as the tribunal said she should also be investigated to determine how she obtained the acknowledgment slip which IEBC claims was stolen.
According to the tribunal, voter registration is completed once a person’s name is duly entered in the register. Kethi had admitted that she did not verify if she was registered. The tribunal also dismissed as baseless the claims by Kethi’s lawyers that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) interfered with the register. The tribunal however upheld the nomination of Prof Kaloki.
Earlier in the day yesterday, a bid by activist Okiya Omtata to halt the delivery of the tribunal ruling on Kethi was dismissed by the High Court. Omtata had argued that IEBC was sitting on its own case and was therefore breaching rules of natural justice. In dismissing it, Judge David Majanja said Kethi and Prof Kaloki can file the case on their own behalf.
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