BY SAM ALFAN.
City lawyer Apollo Mboya has petitioned the High Court to block the Jubilee Administration from seeking re-election through political campaigns by misusing public resources to show-case its four-year development achievements.
The former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Secretary claimed the Government and its agents were engaging in criminal activities by violating Section 14 of the Election Offences Act that outlaws self-serving and partisan advertising during the election period.
Mboya charged that some influential bloggers and renowned commentators on social media-who enjoy substantial sway with the electorates had already observed misleading misrepresentations regarding projects articulated on the government delivery portal that was launched on April 10 by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He said the electioneering period started on March 17 when the Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Wafula Chebukati, published notices in the official Kenya Gazette declaring the August 7 General Election for President, Governors, Senators, Members of Parliament, Women Representatives and Members of County Assemblies. The period will end once the national elections agency announces and publishes names of the winners.
Mboya recalled having written to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, protesting that the Government and its agents were involved in electoral malpractice. He had given him seven days to take action and threatened to undertake private prosecutions against the unnamed culprits.
“The DPP has abdicated, neglected or refused to exercise his constitutional and statutory power to order investigations for the purposes of prosecuting those responsible for the election offences that have been committed and continue to be committed by the national Government. The election offences are a threat to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage for every citizen under Article 38 (2) of the Constitution,” he said in court papers.
He is seeking a declaration that the use of public resources to maintain the government website to promote and advertise public projects contravenes Section 14 of the Election offences Act and is unlawful and unconstitutional. He said the delay by the DPP to exercise his constitutional power to order investigations was unlawful.
Mboya wants the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining the Government, its agents and proxies from carrying the advertisements in any print and electronic media or displaying banners in public places during the election period.
