The Embattled Umoja 2 MCA Joseph Ndonji is a man under siege after he lost a bid to have ODM’s Catheterine Mumma jailed for six months in a nomination dispute involving a former Ummoiner tout.
This is after the party rushed to the High Court and obtained a stay orders through professor Tom Ojienda in the case where the party has faulted the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal for purporting to issue a certificate to Ndonji on grounds that he is the incumbent.
ODM accused the Tribunal of showing partisanship and purporting to single out Ndonji for punishment of the alleged contempt when the impugned decision was a decision of the ODM Central Committee and not of Ndonji as an individual in violation of Article 27 of the Constitution.
Ndonji who has been on the Warpath with ODM after loosing the primaries to Shadrach Machanje, wanted Mumma and John Mbadi to show cause as why they should be committed to civil jail for issuing a direct ticket to Machanje.
In a ridiculous ruling issued by Timothy Torrorey ,Milly lwanga and Dr Lydia Wangui ,the tribunal declared that Ndonji was the nominee for the Umoja 2 ward MCA position despite the party arguing it’s the only organ mandated to nominate candidates.
A desperate Ndonji has been camping at Anniversary towers hoping to compromise IEBC officials to have his name gazzetted instead of Machanje.
Ndonji his wife and son were spotted at the IEBC sixth floor office in a bid to try and have his name gazzetted behind the Party’s back.
Earlier in the day he was heard bragging that John Mbadi had asked him to go pick a Nomination Certificate despite the party settling on Machanje.
He even tried to intimidate the IEBC Returning officer in Embakasi West into clearing him but the officer was adamant that he must get clearance from the top party organ.
Ndonji has sued the party and Machanje close to four times in an attempt to impose himself into the people of Umoja 2.He has been working closely with Embakasi West Mp George Theuri to frustrated Machanje’s candidacy.
He has refused to accept that this may be his term in a very lucrative position where he was the Chairman of the Nairobi County Assembly Environment and land Committe.
Mumma was cited for contempt in a nomination dispute involving an Umoinner tour Machanje who won in the party primaries.
Justice Joseph Sergon issued the orders on Thursday after Mumma moved to court to appeal the decision by the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal on June 14.
“That there be a temporary order for stay of execution of the ruling of the Tribunal delivered on June 14 to last until June 30”, the judge ordered.
Justice Sergon also ordered that there be a stay of the proceedings scheduled for Thursday evening to last until June 30.
The application was fixed for hearing on June 30.
In a ruling delivered on June 14, the Tribunal found Mumma in contempt of the orders issued on May 31 which directed the party to issue a nomination certificate of Umoja II ward MCA to incumbent Ndonji.
The Tribunal had also nullified the certificate issued to former Umoiner tout Shadrack Machanje which the party had issued to him.
Mumma was expected to appear before the Tribunal on Thursday to show cause why she should not jailed for six years .
Mumma through lawyer Prof Ojienda appealed the PPDT ruling stating that it erred by failing to appreciate that it was only the IEBC which had jurisdiction to entertain the complaint regarding the fresh nomination exercise that took place on May 31.
Ojienda argued that the Tribunal erred by assuming jurisdiction to hear and determine the Application dated 6th June 2022 and failed to appreciate that it was a fresh nomination dispute that ought to have been subjected to the ODM’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms in the first instance in violation of Section 40(2) of the Political Parties Act;
“The Tribunal erred by assuming jurisdiction to hear and determine the Application when ODM Party had already forwarded the name of Machanje to the Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission, and as such any dispute revolving around the said nomination was a preserve of the IEBC Dispute Resolution Committee as per Article 88 (4)(e) of the Constitution and Section 74(1) of the Elections Act”, he states.
He faulted the Tribunal for purporting to determine that it had concurrent jurisdiction with the IEBC and in so doing usurped the exclusive jurisdiction conferred upon the Commission to determine nomination disputes after names are submitted to it in violation of Article 88 (4)(e) of the Constitution and Section 74(1) of the Elections Act.
The Tribunal erred by purporting to citing Mumma for contempt of the Court Orders dated 14th May 2022, when the Orders had been issued against John Mbadi and not her.
By purporting to cite Mumma for contempt of the Court Orders, Ojienda said the alleged contempt had already been purged through the meeting that was convened on 31st May 2022 and as such there was no contempt.
