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A Nairobi voter has gone to court to demand that Polycarp Igathe who resigned as Deputy Governor on January 12, 2018 be sworn in as Governor arguing that his resignation was never communicated to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
In court documents, voter Patrick Kiiru wants the court to declare Gazette Notice 10914 of 2020 unconstitutional, saying that the IEBC has no right to call a by-election to fill the vacancy in the office of impeached Governor Sonko since a deputy governor is already in place.
Kiiru seeks an order declaring that Igathe failed to follow the legal requirements in tendering his resignation and should therefore report back to city hall. Kiiru wants the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining the IEBC from conducting any by election in Nairobi.
“There is no clear legal standpoint regarding s a vacancy in the office of the deputy governor. It is important for the court to give a decision on such legal issues before a by-election is conducted to avert a crisis whereby a new governor would be elected when there is already one [presumably Igathe] in office,” he says.
This development further throws the already suspended Nairobi gubernatorial elections into disarray after the recently impeached governor Mike Sonko successfully received orders suspending the February polls until a case he has filed is heard and determined.
On January 9, 2020, in a letter signed by the IEBC director of legal and public affairs Mr. Michael Goa, the IEBC acknowledged that they didnt receive any formal communication about Igathe’s purported resignation.
“On the vacancy in the office of the Deputy Governor, Nairobi County, the commission has not received any formal communication as to the alleged vacancy other than information in the media,” IEBC said in the letter responding to an inquiry by the Nairobi county assembly clerk and speaker Beatrice Elachi seeking advice on governance of the devolved unit.
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