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UDA suffers major setback as 11 politicians lose seats

In a significant blow to the UDA party, 11 MCAs in Uasin Gishu County Assembly lose their seats as the High Court stands firm on a ruling that invalidates their nomination by President William Ruto's party.
UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala
UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala

High Court Judge, Justice Stephen Riech, concurred with a ruling asserting that the UDA party had flouted legal procedures in the nomination of 11 MCAs.

Chief Magistrate Mikoyan, in a judgment dated March 15, declared the nominations null and void due to reliance on a list invalidated by the political parties' tribunal.

Consequently, the Magistrate ordered the party to retract the list, initially published on September 9, 2022, emphasizing the legality of an original list drafted on July 27.

Chief Magistrate Mikoyan underscored the need for justice, pointing out that UDA had submitted an invalid list, which was posted on IEBC's website on July 27, 2022, mere days before the General Election.

The Court further observed that another list surfaced on August 24, 2023, but perplexingly, the names from the initial list had mysteriously vanished.

Magistrate's take

In his directives, Chief Magistrate Mikoyan emphasized the importance of adhering to the United Democratic Alliance's (UDA) full implementation of the orders issued by the Registrar of Political Parties.

He underscored that any Member of the County Assembly of Uasin Gishu, who had been gazetted based on the list published on August 24, 2022, was not legitimately elected through nomination.

According to the Chief Magistrate, the sole valid list in this context was the one from July 27, 2022.

In conclusion, he asserted that the county assembly of Uasin Gishu could only be considered properly constituted in accordance with the list gazetted on July 27, and any MCAs gazetted thereafter were not validly elected through the nomination process.

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