Journalist Tony Gachoka sues IEBC for ‘omitting’ his name from list

Journalist Tony Gachoka has sued the National Rainbow Coalition and the electoral commission for omitting his name from the list of members nominated to the National Assembly.

In the suit filed through the law firm of Miller and Company Advocates, Gachoka claims that he was to be nominated by the National Rainbow Coalition under the Azimio Coalition as a person living with disability but realised that his name was not in the list published by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

“I have justified reasons to believe that there was a malicious intent to shut me out of the party list which was a violation of my constitutional right. As a person living with disability, I had a legitimate expectation to be number one on the nomination list,” said Gachoka.

He stated that after he resigned from the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) and joined NARC, the party leader Charity Ngilu had assured him that he will be top on the list for nomination to represent people living with disabilities in Parliament.

He said he was surprised when he discovered that his name was not on the list despite having qualified for first priority due to his condition.

He argued that other affiliate parties of Azimio have all nominated candidates to Parliament without considering people living with disabilities which is contrary to Article 97 of the Constitution on representation of marginalised groups.

“None of the Azimio affiliate parties has nominated to the National Assembly a person living with disability which is in contravention of the Constitution. All the nominees are therefore null and void,” he said.

He argued that having been a key member of Azimio through the National Rainbow Coalition, he is the best-suited person to benefit from the nomination and defend the coalition’s interest at Parliament.

According to Gachoka, both the coalition and Mrs Ngilu did not object to his nomination and that he does not understand why IEBC failed to gazette his name.

He added that he was being discriminated because of his condition.