NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 30 — A court in Machakos has suspended the decision by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to clear Wavinya Ndeti for the Machakos gubernatorial race pending the outcome of a judicial review application.
The Deputy Registrar at Machakos High Court further ordered the Commission for University Educations (CUE) to review the authenticity of a degree certificate Ndeti is alleged to have obtained from an institution in the United Kingdom.
The provisional orders were issued on Thursday in response to an application by two voters from Machakos who questioned the validity of Ndeti’s academic qualifications .
The duo, Gideon Ngewa and Kisilu Mutisya, had presented a similar case before the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee which dismissed their suit for lack of jurisdiction.
In the application, the two voters sought to have IEBC strike out Ndeti’s name from the list of candidates cleared for the Machakos gubernatorial race in the August 9 General Election.
The granting of reliefs sought by the two petitioners cleared the way for the filing of a substantive case to seek a final orders.
On June 14, the Wiper gubernatorial candidate’s lawyers Eunice Lumala and Ochieng Oginga told the IEBC Disputes Resolution Committee chaired by Commissioner Boya Molu that their client holds a recognized university degree which had been accepted by CUE.