National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula was on Thursday barred from voting in the elections of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) after his name was found to be missing from the official voter register.
Wetang’ula, who arrived at the polling venue expecting to cast his vote, immediately sought clarification from officials overseeing the process, questioning whether the omission was a clerical error.
However, the LSK election board secretary, Owiso Owiso, explained that the matter was rooted in existing regulations governing eligibility to vote.
According to Owiso, Wetang’ula, being a State officer, does not hold a valid practising certificate and is therefore ineligible to participate in the society’s elections under the current rules.
He noted that State officers are exempt from certain professional requirements that apply to advocates in active practice, but the same exemption automatically locks them out of the LSK voter roll.
In response, Wetang’ula argued that State officers are not ordinarily required to take out practising certificates unless they intend to return to mainstream legal practice.
“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.
Owiso maintained that the electoral board was merely enforcing regulations adopted by the society’s membership.
“Unfortunately, members, including yourself, passed a regulation which insists you can only vote when you take out a practising certificate. That locks out State officers. But it is the members who passed the law, which we as the Board only enforce,” he said.
The standoff highlighted the long-standing debate within the legal profession over whether advocates serving in senior public offices should retain full participation rights in professional bodies without holding active practising certificates.
Several high-profile figures were, however, able to take part in the tightly contested polls, among them Erastus Ethekon, the chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Martha Karua, the leader of the People’s Liberation Party, and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
The LSK elections are being closely watched within the legal fraternity, with three candidates battling to succeed the outgoing president Faith Odhiambo.
The contest pits Senior Counsel Charles Kanjama, current LSK vice president Mwaura Kabata, and senior advocate Peter Wanyama in what insiders describe as a highly competitive race.
Is this conversation help
