Speaker Wetangula barred from voting in LSK elections

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula was on Thursday barred from voting in the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) elections as his name was missing from the voter register.

Shortly after his arrival, the Speaker sought clarification from LSK officials overseeing the process, questioning whether it was an error. 

LSK election board secretary Owiso Owiso, however, explained that as a State officer, Wetangula was exempt from certain professional requirements that govern the legal entity. 

The official added that Wetangula did not hold a valid practising certificate, to which Wetangula retorted that State officers do not ordinarily take out practising certificates unless they intend to return to active legal practice. This, effectively, locks them out of the voter roll under the current regulations.

“As a Speaker of the National Assembly, I’m not in mainstream practice so it is moot to take out the practising certificate and you have told us we don’t need to, how come I’m not on the roll?” he posed.

In response, Owiso maintained that the electoral body was simply enforcing regulations passed by the society’s members.

“Unfortunately, members including yourself, passed a regulation which insists you can only vote when you take out a PC (practicing certificate) which locks out State officers. But it is the members who passed the law, which we as the Board only enforce,” he stated.

Other key figures such as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chair Erastus Ethekon, People's Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna participated in the high-stakes elections. 

In what is touted as a tight contest, the LSK polls is pitting three candidates: Senior Counsel Charles Kanjama, current LSK Vice President Mwaura Kabata and senior lawyer Peter Wanyama who seek to succeed incumbent Faith Odhiambo.