US-based law scholar Prof Makau Mutua has predicted that Eliud Owalo's Kibra parliamentary bid will flop.
The vocal lawyer said it was Owalo's right to vie but noted the Amani National Congress (ANC) candidate has embarked on a mission that is unlikely to be successful.
"It’s a democratic country but Eliud Owalo has embarked on a fool’s errand. That said, I wish him all the best," Mutua tweeted on Thursday.
Owalo was on Wednesday unveiled by ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi as the party's candidate after he was handed a direct nomination ticket to contest in the by-election scheduled for November 7, 2019.
The seat fell vacant following the death of Ken Okoth who succumbed to cancer in late July.
Owalo is expected to face stiff competition from candidates from Jubilee and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), but the two parties are yet to conduct competitive nomination exercises.
Owalo, the 2013 campaign manager for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga resigned from ODM two weeks ago citing personal reasons.
He has promised to fight youth unemployment, boost education sector, and spearhead conservation of the environment if elected to Parliament.
“I will augment the CDF Bursary efforts by facilitating the education of needy but bright and capable dependents within the Kibra Community. I will promote TVET programmes to harness the unexploited potential of the Kibra Youth," he said in an interview with the Star.
“I will facilitate a framework that realizes and maintains a clean and habitable environment to enable the people of Kibra live in an environmentally-friendly settlement free of garbage and diseases," Owalo pledged.