Rigathi, Sonko, Waiguru, Babu Owino should not be cleared to vie, Integrity Alliance tells IEBC

The leaders were announced on Sunday as part of this year’s NIA Red Card Campaign which aims to bar individuals with ‘questionable’ integrity from being elected into public office in the General Election.

Rigathi and Sonko join Kiringaga Governor Ann Waiguru, Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, former Nairobi MP Evans Kidero, as well as Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi who have all been flagged.

​​“We have been closely monitoring key developments in regard to the enforcement of Chapter 6 of the Constitution on leadership and integrity. With the 9 th August 2022 general elections drawing closer, we note that various political formations have nominated candidates to vie for elective seats, and various individuals have also presented themselves to contest as independent candidates,” NIA said in a statement.

“Regrettably a number of these political aspirants have tainted integrity.” 

NIA said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commision (IEBC) should not clear Rigathi to run for the deputy president’s office because he is implicated in graft, resulting in action by the Assets and Recovery Authority freezing accounts with approx. Ksh. 200 million in unexplained assets.

They also cited ​​his charges of Conspiracy to defraud County Government of Nyeri and fraudulent acquisition of public property.

Sonko was on the other hand red-carded on the basis of his impeachment as Governor of Nairobi in December 2020, as well as confessing to being intoxicated when he was signing the deed of transfer for Nairobi Metropolitan Services.

Below is the complete list of the leaders NIA has red-carded:

1. Aisha Jumwa – Malindi gubernatorial aspirant

NIA is a citizen-centered integrity and anti-corruption coalition comprising Transparency International Kenya (TI-Kenya), Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi!, Mzalendo Trust, The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), and The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

The Red Card 2022 list, NIA said, was generated from authentic and trusted investigative reports. 

“It includes information gathered from existing reports by oversight institutions including, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), the Ethics & Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), Parliament and various cases before the courts both concluded and active,” the coalition said.

The coalition had also published a red list of politicians in the lead up to the 2017 polls.