Members of County Assembly aspirants have a reason to smile after the High Court declared the degree requirement unconstitutional.
In its ruling, the court said that the process that led to the enactment of section 22 of the Elections Act is illegal since no public participation was conducted.
Section 22(1A) of the Elections Act states that a person may be nominated as a candidate for an elective post if only the person has a university degree recognized in Kenya.
“This section shall come into force and shall apply to qualifications for candidates in the General Election to be held after the 2017 General Election,” states the Act.
IEBC had declared that candidates without a degree will not be cleared to vie for any of the six elective posts.
“The final disposition of the court after submission by parties is that the consolidated petitions have succeeded in the following terms: Declaration the section 22 1b is unconstitutional for violating article 10 for lack of public participation,” the court ruled.
The court’s decision comes after a Mathare based Non-Governmental Organization, Sheria Mtaani, moved to court challenging the law that caused an uproar among political aspirants.
The NGO was represented by Lawyer Danstan Omari who argued that the law was discriminatory and unfair especially on MCA aspirants.
“That law if implemented will deny voters a right to choose a candidate of their choice who has no university degreed. It will also deny voters a right to freely participate in elections due to the limitation of the people to select during the elections. That the General elections which should by law be held on the second Tuesday of August 2022 are fast approaching,” Omaria argued.
“IEBC is making preparations and directives to political parties to propose its candidates for the six elective positions thus the need for the court to urgently and expeditiously deal and determine the constitutional controversy,” Omari added.
He further argued that the Covid 19 pandemic had disrupted the academic calendar in 2020 which greatly affected academic progression while adding that it was hard for most people to get a degree due to poverty that has bedeviled the country since independency.
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