Three petitioners have moved to court seeking to compel the Ministry of Interior to declare Monday, August 29, a public holiday.
The said Monday is the date set for Mombasa and Kakamega counties gubernatorial polls which were postponed by the IEBC following a ballot printing problem.
Moreover, the three Mombasa residents –Â Thani Mohamed, Moses Aran and Kevin Nzuki – through their lawyer Willis Oluga submitted that the court should allow residents of the two counties to vote, owing to the fact that Monday is traditionally a working day.
Likewise, Lawyer Oluga argued that failure to declare Monday a holiday would be discriminating against the residents in the said areas.
Furthermore, the three petitioners had earlier moved to court seeking to stop the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission from postponing the elections past August 30, 2022.
Nonetheless, Emmanuel Makuto, who is the lawyer  representing the Attorney General, insisted that the said date had not been formally set for the elections but was only subject to media reports.
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He further added that the issue of a public holiday was not on the table.
In addition, Justice Stephen Githinji asked the parties to file their applications before delivering his ruling on the issue.
The IEBC had announced on Monday, August 22 that Gubernatorial polls in Mombasa and Kakamega and all other postponed elections would be held on August 29.
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Similarly, the other six elections are Member of the National Assembly polls in Kitui Rural Constituency (Kitui County), Kacheliba Constituency (West Pokot County), Pokot South Constituency (West Pokot County) and Rongai Constituency (Nakuru County).
Elections for Member of County Assembly Wards were also postponed in Kwa Njenga (Embakasi South Constituency – Nairobi County) and Nyaki West (North Imenti Constituency – Meru County).
Furthermore, the petition follows Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i’s declaration of August 9th a public holiday during the General Election.
