Gospel Artist Reuben Kigame Wants Supreme Court To Declare August Elections Null And Void

Reuben Kigame, a gospel musician, has filed a lawsuit to contest the constitutionality of the General Election on August 9.

Mr. Kigame names the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as the first respondent and IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati as the second respondent in the petition he filed with the Supreme Court of Kenya on Monday.

The gospel artist wants the Supreme Court to declare the entire process “null and unlawful.” He was also running to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta before the electoral board disqualified him from the contest.

Kigame claims that the IEBC set “unreasonable deadlines” that prevented some presidential candidates from running by requiring them to submit copies of the identification cards of at least 48000 registered voters.

“My dream together with that of other Independent aspirants in exercising our civil and political rights got into jeopardy as a result of the unreasonableness and discriminatory actions by the 1st respondent,” he states in court documents seen by Citizen Digital.
Kigame describes it as a “apparent denial by [IEBC] and [Mr.]” while listing additional rules the Wafula Chebukati-led committee established as prerequisites to be approved to compete for the position of country’s top official. Chebukati] to put him on the ballot for president.”

Kigame, a member of the National Council of Persons Living with Disabilities, claims that “the impugned activities of the Respondents” breached his human rights.

In addition to requesting that the court declare the entire election null and illegal, he also requests that the court provide him expenses.

He adds: “The Honourable Court be pleased to issue any other or further remedy that it shall deem fit to grant in the interests of justice in the circumstances of this Petition.”
Raila Odinga, a presidential candidate for the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition, and his running mate Martha Karua are among the other petitioners who have so far filed documents for the annulment of the election results.

Odinga finished second with 6,942,930 votes in the presidential election results announced by Chebukati on Monday, trailing William Ruto of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

7,176,141 votes, or 50.49 percent, went to Dr. Ruto.

The deadline for submitting petitions contesting the results was Monday, August 22. Within 14 days, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issues presented.