Shollei rubbishes civil society red card, says she is fit for office

Uasin Gishu Women Representative hopeful Gladys Boss Shollei has challenged the claims that she is unfit to run for office on integrity grounds, saying that the civil society’s claims hold no water.

The Jubilee Party nominee was amongst 20 aspirants shown the red card by a section of the lobby groups, with the groups recommending that she and the other 19 be barred from running for public office.

Shollei has now come out to poke holes at the Civil Society’s stance, saying that this latest move was just another shot at relevance by the lobby groups.

“This is the same civil society that attempted to stop President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto from running. This is the same civil society that went across our country – and our county particularly – picking fake witness reports to take them to ICC. This is the same civil society that was part of the presidential petition. So this is not something new; this is how they remain relevant,” said Shollei.

Shollei stated that, being an experienced lawyer, she has a proper understanding of electoral law.

She argued that, legally, she cannot be barred from running for office because she has been mentioned in a parliamentary committee report.

“There is a lot of sensationalism in the media. The law is very clear: unless you have been convicted and you have exhausted all appeals, you cannot be barred from running for office,” Shollei asserted.

Driving her point home, Shollei said that if parliamentary reports could bar one from office, then IEBC Boss Ezra Chiloba because he has also been adversely mentioned in a Parliamentary report.

“Ezra Chiloba himself – there’s a report that says he cannot hold parliamentary office,” she said, speaking in Eldoret town.

In 2013, Shollei was shown the door by the Judicial Service Commission over the alleged misuse of Ksh.2 billion.

The then JSC president, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, said he had been fired for contravening Chapter Six and Article 232 of the Constitution. Shollei was accused of violation of the code of conduct for judicial officers, insubordination and incompetence.

She denied all these claims, saying that certain members of the JSC had a personal vendetta against her because she had put an end to cartels in the judiciary.