Are ex-mayors doomed?
Parliamentary seats have proved elusive for former Nairobi mayors. They either fail to clinch them or the five-year term becomes too long to finish.
George Aladwa is the latest casualty in the growing list after the court dismissed his petition challenging election of Makadara MP Benson Kang’ara.
Justice Richard Mwongo held that though discrepancies were pointed out in court, they were negligible and did not warrant overturning the final results declared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
In addition to sealing Mr Aladwa’s fate, the court ordered him to pay Sh2.7 million as costs. The money will be shared between Mr Kang’ara and the IEBC.
“I have also taken the trouble of going through forms 35 and 36 filed in court and I am satisfied that there was no tampering to favour either of the candidates,” said Justice Mwongo.
A similar fate played out on former mayor Geoffrey Majiwa who lost the contest for Ruaraka constituency in the March 4 elections.
“My opponents used the charges I faced to portray me as a corrupt leader,” Mr Majiwa said.
He resigned as mayor following a multi-million cemetery saga.
In 2010, former MP Reuben Ndolo successfully petitioned the election of Dick Wathika as Makadara MP in the 2007 elections.
Mr Wathika had only served two years as MP when the court nullified his victory.
Both him and Mr Ndolo lost in the subsequent by-election to a political greenhorn, Gidion Mbuvi ‘Sonko’ now Nairobi Senator.
Former Mayor Joe Aketch also found it impossible to make a comeback politically despite several attempts.
In the 2007 elections, former Nairobi mayor John Ndirangu mostly remembered for being in office when a multi-million golden mayoral chain was stolen in 2001, lost the Embakasi parliamentary seat to Melitus Mugabe Were.
He also lost to Mr Ferdinand Waititu in the by-election that followed after Mr Were was assassinated after serving as MP for only a month.
Mr Ndirangu, however, clinched the Embakasi Central seat in the election and went ahead to survive a petition filed by Kituo Cha Sheria which the court ruled was defective.
Former Mayor Steve Mwangi won the Starehe seat in the 1994 by-election but quit politics a few months later.