Political Parties Dispute Resolution tribunal has extended the interim orders issued on April 28th stopping the Party of National Unity (PNU) from issuing certificates to the primaries nominees for various seats in Embu County until the hearing and determination of the complaint.
While delivering the ruling, tribunal chair Kyalo Mbobu said that in light of the letter dated April 24th addressed to the party by the complainants which to date has not been acted upon by the party, the claimants have conformed with the requirements to invoke the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism.
Lawyer Apollo Muinde for the four PNU members Denis Mugendi, Jeremiah Mugambi Njagi, Patrick Mucira Wilson and Simon Njue Gitegua told the tribunal that the nomination exercise was a sham.
Mr Muinde urged the tribunal to order a repeat of the nomination exercise since it was tainted with violence, bribery and open campaigns during the nomination.
“ The presiding officers arrived the polling stations after 5pm and thousands and thousands of voters who were at the stations since morning were turned away without exercising their democratic rights of electing candidates if their choice,” Muinde told the tribunal.
He added that some of the names for various MCA aspirants in the area were missing from the ballot papers despite them having paid the necessary fees.
The party members are also seeking to have the primaries in Embu declared null and void having been tainted with massive fraud and gross irregularities.
Earlier an attempt by PNU to have the matter struck out for none compliance with PNU Constitution on dispute resolution was dismissed.
The tribunal agreed with Mr Muinde that the PNU did not follow the due process to resolve the issue.
The tribunal was presided over by Kyalo Mbobu (chairman), James Atemi and Aldeline Mbithi.
The PNU members among them Embu gubernatorial aspirant Dr Cyrus Njiru flocked the tribunal’s hearing session to show their support to the complainants.
while addressing the media outside Milimani law courts,
The tribunal also ordered the defendants to file their response on or before May 1st 2017.
The matter will be heard on Tuesday, April 2nd 2017 in the morning and the ruling delivered in the afternoon on the same day as it is a matter of urgency.