Presidential hopeful and gospel artist Reuben Kigame has faced several tribulations ahead of the August 2022 general elections. Despite being visually impaired, Kigame joined politics in 2013, where he ran for the Vihiga County gubernatorial seat but came fourth out of the six aspirants, garnering 4,880 votes.
Being an independent candidate, he vehemently declared his interest in the presidency, stating that Kenyans should change the status quo by rooting out corrupt leaders. Kigame is a perfect definition of a staunch Christian since most media reports quote him as a gospel artist with a taste in politics as he swears never to work with any corrupt leader.
His woes began when the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) locked him out of the race on May 30, 2022. The commission stated that he failed to meet the agency’s requirements that a presidential aspirant must have 48,000 signatures of his supporters from 24 majority counties. But as of May 25, 2022, a Returning Officer claimed that Kigame had only presented a list of 1,013 supporters.
Kigame, moved to High Court on June 14, 2022, to challenge IEBC’s ruling.
The team accused IEBC of not giving a valid reason for his disqualification; they also accused the body of taking him up and down while he was ready to submit his paperwork. They kept him waiting before declaring he had missed the deadline. Kigame accused security of barring him from seeing Chebukati, who kept him waiting in the lobby.
“I have done my best to be patient and respectful to our government, IEBC, and Chebukati as my returning officer for the presidential election. But I am not sure I deserve what this country is doing to me. How can they appeal Monday’s court ruling? where is my dignity?” – Reuben Kigame
On Monday July 18, 2022, High Court gave him new hopes after it ordered IEBC to include him in the list of aspirants. Judge Anthony Mrima argued that Mr. Kigame had done his best to comply with IEBC requirements. He further said the list Kagame provided was enough and, therefore, should not be disqualified because of insufficient signatures.
His joy, however, was short-lived after the Court of Appeal suspended the High Court’s decision. The appellate court ruled that the stay order will remain in effect pending the hearing of an appeal by IEBC. It also gave Kigame 72 hours to file his responses before the appeal hearing scheduled for Monday next week.
On Thursday, Kigame decried IEBC’s move to appeal High Court’s decision. Shortly after the Court of Appeal suspended High Court’s move, he posted on Twitter that he did not deserve the treatment.
“I have done my best to be patient and respectful to our government, IEBC, and Chebukati as my returning officer for the presidential election,” Kigame said in a tweet. “But I am not sure I deserve what this country is doing to me! How can they appeal Monday’s court ruling? where is my dignity?”
He called on President Uhuru Kenyatta, Statehouse, Attorney General, the International community, the Law Society of Kenya, and the Judiciary to intervene.
“How can @StateHouseKenya be silent about the violation of my rights as a citizen in the glare of the international community? How can the Attorney General be silent at this time? How can our Chief Justice be silent? What’s going on? Where is LSK? Where is civil society?” Kigame tweeted.
Earlier, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati declined High Court’s directive. He argued that including Mr. Kigame in the incoming election could compromise the elections and cost an extra Sh. 971 million.
Chebukati said Kigame did not meet the requirements of Article 137, which requires a presidential aspirant to be nominated by at least 2000 voters from each of the majority of counties. He added that including Kigame in the race would need reprinting ballot papers and rescheduling fright, a budget not planned for by the commission.
Chebukati cited several steps required to include him that could jeopardize the elections.
- New gazettement of presidential aspirants, including the new candidate and his running mate, on the ballot papers.
- Re-programming of the Candidates Registration Management System (CRMS),
- Re-programing of Results Transmission System (RTS) and 55,650 KIEMS across the 47 counties.
He added that including new candidates means re-designing the ballot papers, and all the above processes, subject to budget availability, need at least 30 days. Yet, we only have 19 days to elections.
Chebukati noted that the commission is committed to ensuring all marginalized groups such as women, youth, and persons with disabilities are included. However, any relief given to such special categories should be within constitutional requirements and elections laws.
Kigame has inspired some youth to support his candidature. According to a Guardian report, some of his supporters stated a silent protest outside IEBC offices in Nairobi, wearing a white cloth over their eyes in solidarity with Kigame’s blindness.