IEBC Revokes Clearance Certificate Issued To Mike Sonko For Mombasa Gubernatorial Race

MOMBASA, Kenya, Jul, 18 – The Mombasa Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) returning officer, Swalha Ibrahim has revoked the clearance certificate issued to Mike Mbuvi Sonko to contest the gubernatorial seat under a Wiper ticket.

The decision came just days after the Supreme Court upheld his impeachment as Nairobi governor.

“In adherence to the Supreme Court judgment, you are therefore disqualified from holding any public office and thus disqualified from contesting and being elected as Governor Mombasa county or any other county,” said Ibrahim who further said in her letter, “Considering the fact that the Supreme Court is the apex court in terms of judicial hierarchy, there can be no other appeal and in fact there is none,”

Sonko was last week cleared by the poll body after a three-judge bench of the High Court ordered it to accept his nomination papers.

Supreme Court Ruling

The final nail in the coffin. This is what observers described the Supreme Court ruling that has sealed Mike Mbuvi Sonko’s political career.

The court upheld his impeachment saying that the former Nairobi governor was duly removed from office.

The impeachment proceedings took place before the Nairobi county assembly and the senate.

The ruling comes just a day after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) cleared the former Nairobi county honcho to contest the Mombasa gubernatorial seat.

IEBC will now be forced to recall its decision to clear him for the contest.

“We come to the irresistible conclusion that the impeachment of the appellant was in compliance with the Constitution and the law. We, therefore, find no merit in the Petition of Appeal. It bears mentioning in conclusion that Chapter Six of the Constitution was not enacted in vain or for cosmetic reasons,” said the Supreme Court in a statement.

Provisions of Article 75(3) of the Constitution bars a person impeached from a public office from ever holding any other state office.

Despite Sonko’s attempt to overturn the decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal, the apex court upheld their decision releasing seven reasons for their decision to dismiss the appeal.

A detailed ruling will be released at a later date.

Part of the ruling objected Sonko’s claim that his removal from office was illegal stating that he was accorded adequate time and facility to respond to the charges against him both at the county assembly and in the Senate.

“There was sufficient public participation, the intended tabling of the motion for the impeachment of the appellant was not only advertised in a local daily newspaper with wide circulation, in response to which people submitted memoranda, but also a survey was conducted in the county in the form of questionnaires. This was in addition to the fact that the proceedings were conducted in public,” said the judges.

Sonko was removed from office on December 17, 2020.

Candidates seeking to clinch the Mombasa gubernatorial seat include ODM’s Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir, UDA’s Hasan Omar, William Kingi of PAA,Daniel Munga Kitsao who is an independent candidate, Said Abdalla of Usawa kwa Wote party, Shafi Makazi of UPIA ns Antony Chitavi of UDP.