McDonald Mariga will still lose an appeal lodged against Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission over his intentions to run for Kibra by-election, an advocate has said.
IEBC rejected Mariga's nomination on Tuesday, citing that he is not a reregistration voter, or at least, his name is not appearing in the current adopted voter register.
Returning officer Jane Muli said: “We have invalidated Mariga’s nomination to vie in the Kibera by-election because his name is not on the voter’s register.”
At a press conference, Mariga indicated that he will appeal the decision within seven days, a move that was backed by Nixon Korir and Dr Boni Khalwale.
But advocate Omwanza Ombati says the appeal will be a waste of time should the IEBC stick to the law and provisions on matters nominations.
According to him, Mariga's registration came barely three weeks ago and as such, the register containing his name has not been adopted in compliance with the law.
"It's a technical case. He registered three weeks ago. His name hasn't been adopted as a voter in compliance with the law. Adoption takes time. He will be locked out," he says.
Further, Ombati adds, should IEBC ignore that fact, still Section 36 of the Registration Act of 2016 will have Mariga knocked out of the race.
"Assuming he gets away with that, now that his name isn't in the register, revision needs to be done. By law, he will have to wait until November 18th to be cleared," he added.
The current development of events is a blow to deputy president William Ruto, who has been pushing for the candidature of the former footballer in the race to succeed Ken Okoth.