Tycoon files petition to block DP Ruto from vying for presidency 2022

Flamboyant Kenyan politician, Stanley Livondo has filed a petition in court seeking to have Deputy President William Ruto barred from running for President in any future elections.

In his petition, Livondo wants the Attorney-General to declare that when Articles 130 (1), 131 (1) (b) and 148 (6) (a) of the Constitution are read together, the President and Deputy President are ineligible to seek nomination as presidential candidates, Citizen Digital reported.

The flamboyant politician argues that the Deputy President, just like Cabinet Secretaries, is appointed by the President, adding that they work as a single unit.

This, according to Livondo, means that neither member of the unit can stand for nomination, in the 2022 Presidential Election.

“Your petitioner, therefore, prays that a declaration be issued that Article 137 (2) (b) and (3) of the Constitution be interpreted to mean that it applies to the case of the President and Deputy President reelection at the completion of their first term and to a Member of Parliament at their reelection at following general elections,” the petition reads.

Following the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, the number of times a President can vie for the seat was limited to two.

The petitioner further wants past CSs to be barred from taking any Executive positions or any other roles in national and county government after a new president is sworn in in 2022.

This is not the first time a proposal is being made to bar the DP from running for presidency in 2022.

Early last year, former Jubilee Vice Chairperson David Murathe vowed to move to court to block DP William Ruto from vying for the top seat.

Murathe made reference to Article 148 section 5 of the Constitution which states that “The Deputy President-elect assumes office by taking and subscribing— the oath or affirmation of allegiance and the oath or affirmation for the execution of the functions of office as prescribed in the Third Schedule.”

Murathe, a fierce critic of Ruto, said the DP should go home with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Stating that the Kikuyu community doesn’t owe Ruto support in his 2022 bid, Murathe also threatened to take up the matter up to the Supreme court should it prove difficult.

“We have no MoU with anyone that we will support them in 2022. If he has any deal with Uhuru Kenyatta, then that is an agreement between the two of them,” Murathe said at a past event.

He is among a section of Mount Kenya leaders keen to block Ruto from succeeding President Kenyatta.

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