Nairobi — Wiper Secretary General Shakilla Abdalla has been dealt a blow after the High Court threw out his case seeking to quash summons issued to her and the Wiper National Election Board (NEB) over nomination perjury claims.
Some of the board members who are also on spot include the party chairman Chirau Ali Makwere, Agatha Solitei who is the chairperson of the party's elections board, Roy Ombasa who is the party's head of ICT and one Abdulla Gakurya.
The Nominated Senator alongside the party's election board are now required to honor the summon and record a statement at the Director of Criminal Investigations over forgery of documents force the nomination of Lucas Wambua.
The High Court dismissed the attempts by Abdalla to impede the Director of Criminal Investigation saying her quest for conservatory orders to bar criminal proceedings lacked merit.
Abdalla argued that disputes regarding party nominations are civil in nature and well ventilated in a court of law hence it can't be subjected to criminal proceedings.
She cited the Elections Act and Politcal Parties Act having no provisions requiring the DCI to investigate matters touching on elections.
"The applicant (Abdalla) believes that the respondents (DCI) decision is aimed at and intended to intimidate and harras the applicant breaching his constitutional right," the court papers read.
The DCI however argued that a pending civil suit doesn't impede criminal proceedings execution.
"The fact that there exists a civil suit is not a bar to any criminal proceeding or investigation," the petition read.
Justice John Chigoti in his ruling mentioned that barring the criminal investigation would result to anarchy.
Falsification Claim
Through a letter dated September 20 to Wiper, the investigators led by DCI officer in charge of Kilimani Division Stephen ole Tanki noted that Talib lodged a complaint that he was illegally and unlawfully removed as the party nominee in favour of Lucas Mulinge Wambua using forged documents including affidavits.
The Mombasa businessman claimed that Ms Abdalla allegedly swore a replying affidavit on behalf of Wiper during the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) proceedings, that she attended a party meeting to discuss the nominations in Nairobi on July 22 while she was actually in Lamu.
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"The affidavit directly influenced the judgment outcome on August 3 in the PPDT E099 of 2022. She also swore in the affidavit that on July 15 the party posted a new advert for its nominations yet the said advert was posted on July 28, 2022," read the DCI letter summoning the party officials.
Nomination Row
At the heart of the conflict is a confusion that saw IEBC reject nomination lists forwarded to it by all political parties on July 15 for want of various requisites.
In that initial list, Talib was designated at number one.
But when the second list was forwarded by the Kalonzo Musyoka-led party, dated July 22, the name of Talib was omitted and replaced by Wambua at position one.
Talib unsuccessfully challenged the list at the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal.
His recourse to the High Court succeeded. He claimed that the party's decision to replace his name without due process was unlawful. The court agreed with him.
He argued that upon rejection of the first list, the party generated a new one and sent it to IEBC on July 21 in which his name was maintained at number one, and got accepted.
The court upheld the July 21 list as the valid and legal one.
Talib claimed that Abdalla boarded a morning flight to Lamu through Mombasa the same day she claimed to have held a party meeting.
