Courts declines to bar Joho from defending his Mombasa seat

Mombasa Governor, Hassan Ali Joho, will now have to wait for electoral body – the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to decide on whether he will be able to defend his seat or not in the August 8 General Election.

This is after the High Court rejected a bid by petitioner Abdalla Juma to have the court bar IEBC from clearing Joho by accepting his ODM clearance certificates for his direct nomination to defend the seat.

Justice Chacha Mwita says only IEBC can determine his qualifications and has ordered Juma to serve those mentioned in the case and appear in court on the 3rd of next month for further directions.

In the case filed at Milimani Court on Tuesday, April 11, the petitioner had sought to block IEBC from clearing the embattled ODM Governor to vie in the coming poll, claiming his degree was obtained fraudulently.

Juma further states in his petition that a candidate with a KCSE D- (minus) grade cannot qualify for admission to university or do a bridging course before joining a higher learning institution in the region.

“I am aware the first respondent – Joho publicly acknowledged he obtained a grade of D- (minus) in his KCSE examination in 1993 or thereabouts,” read the petition.

He argues that Kampala University has publicly alleged that it admitted Joho on the strength of credits transferred from the University of Nairobi where he had originally been admitted.

Juma is accusing the Nairobi University of failing to carry out due diligence prior to Joho’s admission.