IEBC appeals committee hearing reveals blunders made by Jubilee's McDonald Mariga in his bid to succeed Ken Okoth in Kibra, backed by DP Ruto

A series of blunders committed by Jubilee’s McDonald Mariga and his team have emerged, putting his quest to succeed Ken Okoth as the Kibra MP in limbo.

It all began on 26 August 2019 when Mariga presented himself to register as a voter at Kariakor without his national ID or passport just in time to beat the deadline for submitting papers to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

With the law clear on what one needs to register as a voter, the exercise momentarily halted as the footballer had to send his aides to fetch his ID.

Jubilee’s McDonald Mariga the party’s nnation certificate from party Secretary General Raphael Tuju Pulse Live Kenya

It also emerged during yesterday’s IEBC appeals committee hearing that although he was given an acknowledgment slip after the exercise, Mariga never signed for it.

Another costly blunder was committed by the Jubilee Party, under whose ticket he hopes to vie.

Kibra Constituency Returning Officer Beatrice Muli told the IEBC committee chaired by Wafula Chebukati that Jubilee never forwarded his contacts to IEBC for the returning officer invite him for the pre-nomination meeting for all candidates held on September 5.

All the other parties attended the meeting but Jubilee’s representatives and Mariga never showed up.

The returning officer revealed that she made frantic calls to Jubilee Party’s phone number in a bid to trace Mariga and the party’s representatives but the calls went unanswered.

Muli stated that when Mariga eventually submitted his nomination certificate, they tried to find his name in the electronic register- the same one that will be used for the by- election but it was missing, leaving her with no option but to lock him out based on law.

"An aspirant she should be a registered voter. The only way to verify was by checking their names in the KIEMs and we did that through biometrics or alphanumeric,” Muli asserted.

Jubilee and ODM campaign teams meet in Kibra Pulse Live Kenya

Why the footballer who wants to give back to the society by representing Kibra constituency in parliament opted to register as a voter in Starehe constituency instead of Kibra still baffles many.

The blunders paint the image of utter confusion, a frantic race to beat time and glaring mistakes whose real impacts on Mariga’s dreams to give back to the society will be known on Monday when IEBC committee delivers its verdict.