Fresh petition now filed to block Mariga’s Kibra by-election ticket

Football star McDonald Mariga is not yet off the hook in his bid to contest for the Kibra parliamentary seat in the by-election scheduled for November 7, 2019.

A fresh petition has now been filed before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal challenging the nomination of Mariga by the Jubilee Party.

In the petition, Morris Peter Kinyanjui has sued Mariga and the Jubilee Party Elections Board and named the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as the first respondent.

Kinyanjui, who was also seeking the Jubilee ticket, argues that he still believes that the nomination exercise was not conducted in line with the party’s constitution and laid down regulations.

“The applicant strongly believes that he has a prima facie case which is likelihood of success,” reads the petition.

The petitioner says that he is aggrieved by the IEBC decision to clear the former footballer to contest in the by-election, as he believes that due process was not followed in selecting Mariga as the party’s ticket holder.

He has urged the board to hear and determine the case before the by-election.

This comes as a fresh hurdle for Mariga who had been initially locked out of the by-election on grounds that he was not a registered voter.

The IEBC, however, on Monday set aside the initial decision to block Mariga’s candidacy.