{"id":146681,"date":"2026-07-13T17:02:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wanjiku-muhia-wins-temporary-reprieve-as-court-halts-iebc-penalty\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:02:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:02:46","slug":"wanjiku-muhia-wins-temporary-reprieve-as-court-halts-iebc-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wanjiku-muhia-wins-temporary-reprieve-as-court-halts-iebc-penalty\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanjiku Muhia wins temporary reprieve as court halts IEBC penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 \u2013 The High Court has temporarily suspended the enforcement of an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) decision requiring Kipipiri MP Wanjiku Muhia to pay a Sh1.5 million fine over alleged hate speech during the Ol Kalou by-election campaigns.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In interim orders issued Monday, the court stayed the implementation of the IEBC Electoral Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee\u2019s judgment delivered on July 10, pending the hearing and determination of the lawmaker\u2019s application challenging the decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat in the meantime, pending the hearing and determination of the application, an order is hereby issued staying the judgment\/determination of the 2nd Respondent issued on 10 July 2026,\u201d the court ruled.<\/p>\n<p>The orders effectively bar the electoral commission from enforcing the Sh1.5 million fine or compelling Muhia to issue a public apology within the 72-hour deadline contained in the IEBC decision until the case is heard and determined.<\/p>\n<p>Muhia moved to the High Court seeking to block the implementation of the sanctions, arguing that the commission\u2019s decision should not take effect before the court determines her substantive legal challenge.<\/p>\n<p>The MP was sanctioned by the IEBC Electoral Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee over remarks she allegedly made during a political rally on June 14 while campaigning for Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) candidate Sammy Kamau Ngotho in the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.<\/p>\n<p>The committee, chaired by Moses Alutalala Mukhwana, found that Muhia\u2019s remarks contravened the Electoral Code of Conduct by allegedly inciting residents against people perceived as non-indigenous to the constituency.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling followed a contentious hearing in which Muhia\u2019s legal team walked out in protest over the committee\u2019s composition and challenged the IEBC\u2019s jurisdiction to hear the complaint. The commission dismissed the objection before proceeding to deliver its verdict.<\/p>\n<p>The matter will now proceed before the High Court, which will determine whether the IEBC\u2019s decision should stand.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 \u2013 The High Court has temporarily suspended the enforcement of an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) decision requiring Kipipiri MP Wanjiku Muhia to pay a Sh1.5 million fine over alleged hate speech during the Ol Kalou by-election campaigns. In interim orders issued Monday, the court stayed the implementation of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}