This archive report was first published on 16 September 2019.
On September 16, 2019, the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee made a significant decision, allowing Jubilee's MacDonald Mariga to run in the Kibra by-election on November 7, 2019, after reversing the verdict of the Kibra Returning Officer.
Mariga had appealed a decision to disqualify him from vying in the Kibra by-election, citing that his registration details were not found in the voters' roll. However, the IEBC Starehe deputy registration officer, Ismail Yasin, testified that Mariga was duly registered as a voter on August 26, 2019, and his details were well-captured on the KIEMS kit.
Mariga maintained that he is a registered voter, and the tribunal heard that Jubilee's nominee was duly registered as a voter in Starehe constituency, qualifying him to vie for the Kibra parliamentary seat.
However, Kibra returning officer Beatrice Muli had initially locked out Mariga from the race, citing due diligence and following the law and IEBC regulations. Counsel for Mariga, Wilfred Lusi, observed that it was an oversight on the part of the Kibra Returning officer to make a rushed decision without exhausting every possible avenue to confirm Mariga's voter registration status.
