Kenyan electoral body clears four Presidential candidates
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has completed the nomination of candidates for the 9 August elections, Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati said Monday.
Chebukati's Commission said four candidates met the requirements to be cleared to contest the Presidential polls. The four include Deputy President William Ruto and his running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, running on the United Democratic Alliance; George Wajackoyah, running on the Roots Party, which has been campaigning on the platform of legalizing marijuana.
Wajackoyah is a renowned lawyer who has taken various court cases including the defense of Tanzanian political refugees. He met the threshold for nomination after presenting the 48,000 national identification documents, 2,000 each from at least 24 Counties.
The Presidential candidates must also present university degrees and all educational testimonials.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his running mate, Martha Karua, were cleared on Sunday, to run for the Presidency.
Odinga would be making his fifth attempt to become the President. “You have run five times and you are going to become the fifth President of Kenya,” said Kalonzo Musyoka, former Vice President.
Musyoka, who has run twice as Odinga’s running mate, was bypassed this time and proposed to become the Chief Cabinet Secretary in charge of Government Coordination.
Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), has the backing of some 26 political parties forming the Azimio la Umoja coalition party.
While Odinga is running on the platform of economic rejuvenation and economic liberation, his rival, Ruto, is running on the basis of a “bottom-up-economic model. According to Ruto’s campaigns, the low income earners should be facilitated to own the resources and to drive economic growth.
However, Odinga’s approach is to have a trickle-down effect, where the owners of capital would facilitate the economic development and the growth of credit to enterprise.
The enterprise would then back economic growth.
The fourth candidate in the polls, David Waihiga Mwaure, the leader of Agano Party, is a Church Minister and Anti-Corruption crusader.
The four candidates are amongst those who have met the threshold out of 50 candidates who had initially applied for clearance ahead of the polls.
The IEBC listed a dozen other candidates who were expected to present their papers but had in one way or the other, not appeared for the exercise.
On Monday, dramatic scenes were reported at the IEBC operating headquarters at the Bomas of Kenya.
Businessman Jimmy Wanjigi, who was running on Safina Party, failed to get cleared after failing to produce a university degree.
Several other candidates also failed to make the cut for nomination.
-0- PANA AO/VAO 6June2022
