A law requiring contestants for MP and MCA seats to have university degrees has been challenged in court.
Two petitions have been filed challenging Section 22 (1)(b) of the Elections Act 2011, which takes effect in the 2022 elections.
In the first petition, Gloria Orwaba argues that the clause violates the Constitution as it introduces unnecessary hurdles for those seeking to run for elective posts.
She further argues that by failing to recognize and equate various academic qualifications, training skills, and other merits, the law discriminates against many Kenyans who may qualify as good leaders.
“Section 22 of the Election 22 of the Election ACT 2011 specifically fails to recognize any other form of training or competence other than a conventional degree from a recognized University,” read court papers.
The second petition was filed by Sheria Mtaani and lawyer Shadrack Wambui through lawyer Danstan Omari.
The two petitioners argue that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the 2020 academic year, thus hindering many Kenyans from obtaining degrees.
“The impugned section of the election Act flows from a flawed assumption that persons possessing a university degree which test fails the constitutional threshold under article 24 of the constitution,” reads the papers.
The legislation requires contestants for all the six elective positions to be holders of a bachelor’s degree.
The law was set to take effect in the 2017 elections, but MPs successfully lobbied for its suspension in the hope of obtaining the papers by 2022.
Last week, Deputy President William Ruto called for the repealing of the law, terming the requirement as unreasonable.
He argued that it is unnecessary to demand uniform academic qualifications from leaders running for different elective seats in the country.
“The Constitution prohibits any unreasonable restrictions being placed on the way of voters or candidates to be able to vie or vote in any elections,” said Ruto.
“To say that MCAs should have the same qualifications as MPs, Governors and even the President is not reasonable.”
Siyo lazima uwe na digrii…
Siyo lazima uwe na digrii ili ujiunge na bunge?
Ndugu John Major alikuwa waziri mkuu wa Uingereza, naye hakuwa na shahada yoyote!
Shahada haisaidii uongozi nchini.
It should be a minimum…
It should be a minimum requirement to have a college degree if they want to run for public office. This is why the gov is so corrupted because of uneducated incompetent individuals running it. A guy like Waititu could barely construct a complete sentence in English and he was in charge of running the richest county in Kenya. Smh! Sonko ruined Nairobi because he had no idea what he was doing. Most government civil jobs require a college education, why should MPs or MCA bypass this requirement.
@ KK:
Naomba ukumbuke…
@ KK:
Naomba ukumbuke kwamba, Ndugu Waititu pamoja na Ndugu Sonko, wote wana digrii kutoka kwenye chuo kikuu?.
Kuwa na shahada hakupunguzi mambo ya rushwa na ufisadi nchini. Jambo lililo la msingi ni kumaliza na kufutilia mbali uroho (greed) usio na mwisho ambao umejaa kwenye mioyo ya viongozi wengi tulio nao sasa.
English please
English please
Why? Imara Daima is one of…
Why? Imara Daima is one of the premier expounders of opinions and views on this site and his command of lugha ya taifa (the nation’s language) is without peer. I live amongst and interact primarily with non Kenyans. It is inspiring and sometimes challenging to read his opinions but it always makes you think. It is a welcome break from my day to day. Celebrate and encourage this skill rather than trying to silence it . Learn Kiswahili, it is a beautiful, expressive language.
@Imara Daima thank you for…
@Imara Daima thank you for making sence to this black Dark brainwashed stupid Africans who think having a degree u will perform or be beta leader??Let the citizens make the choice.Kidero had phd he stole mumias/nairobi county/slapped women like shebesh live on tv????Aslong as you know how to read n write to me I think minimal high school is enough if u have degree/masters let it b a plus?Let the people make their choice,Period
A degree is important in…
A degree is important in that it shows that the person is competent to do legislative work. How can class 6 dropout legislate?
Leadership is not a genetic…
Leadership is not a genetic trait.Stop blaming Covid .Most of these so called leaders are disguised thieves .Why should you earn more than a graduate who went to school and learnt a craft.If they insist that MCA’s NOT have degrees let them serve yes serve and not work .However they need to SERVE wanainchi for FREE.It is not about the degrees but greed plain and simple thank stupid Mlevi president exciting them withBBI now everyone and their grandmother will want to run surely .Madam CJ ensure BBI never sees the light of day and these uneducated rascals need to go back to school and learn a craft.Looking to politics to make themselves rich washindwe
@KK
Amka Ndugu yangu:…
@KK
Amka Ndugu yangu: Kiswahili ni lugha ya taifa katika nchi ya Kenya??.
@ Mkenya Halisi: Asante sana kwa yote uliyoandika juu ya mambo ya kuwa na digrii ili mtu achaguliwe kwenye bunge pa Kenya.
These are colonial laws…
These are colonial laws slowly cripping in.
Russia issues degrees in Russian languages to serve its population.
Germans issue degrees in German to serve its local population; same with China and Japan.
Why do we issue degrees in a colonial language? To serve who?
No wonder we have all stammering leaders who sign anything that comes their way with no basic understanding as to what those contracts mean? They go stammering around the country using huge foreign word and in the process fail to communicate. We only end up mimicking our western masters.
No degree should be required until we all stop stammering and use our own languages or until we are in a position to translate every foreign language that is dampened into our country for consumption by our citizens.
As we wake up to who we are, and get restored,foreign languages and foreign religions will be the first to go out the door.