File image of Abdikadir Hussein
Lagdera Member of Parliament Abdikadir Hussein has been issued a stay order even after the court nullified his election as an MP over irregularities.
The ODM MP will continue to serve in the National Assembly until the process to reconstitute IEBC is completed.
According to lady justice Tripsisa Wamae, Hussein will continue to be MP because there is no IEBC to conduct elections.
The MP, however, has challenged the decision, claiming that the judge failed to consider his defense when rendering the decision. The MP has instructed his lawyers to appeal the decision as soon as possible.
According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Hussein received 5,939 votes to win the seat over United Democratic Alliance-Abdiqani UDA’s Zeitun, who received 4,863 votes.
Zeitun, Hussein’s opponent in the August 2022 polls, had moved to court to challenge Hussein’s victory in the hotly contested race.
The verdict comes days after four voters filed a lawsuit claiming that Abdikadir Hussein was not a Kenyan citizen and thus ineligible to run for office. The four voters sought the court’s intervention in their petition, through their lawyer, Mwangi Ndegwa, to clarify the criteria used to clear Hussein for election as an MP.
If the ruling is upheld in a higher court, ODM will lose two more National Assembly seats, continuing a trend in which the Azimio coalition has lost seats to the rival Kenya Kwanza Coalition. This comes as both parties prepare for upcoming bills and amendments proposed by President William Ruto.
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