Bomachoge constituents will have to wait until the Interim Independent Electoral Commission is set up for them to have an MP.  Although Speaker Kenneth Marende Wednesday declared the seat vacant, he could not issue official writs that would have paved the way for a by-election, since the commission had not been appointed. 

This means that the seat, which was held by former Heritage Assistant minister Mr Joel Onyancha, will remain vacant until such a time that the Commission is appointed. Mr Marende termed the new development as 'an unprecedented state of affairs' that called for urgent action by all the institutions concerned. "Given that the Interim Independent Electoral Commission has not yet been appointed, it is not possible for me to issue writs to enable the holding of the ensuing parliamentary election," he said in a statement.

"I therefore appeal to all the organs involved in the process of appointing the IIEC commissioners to move with utmost speed and expedite the process required to put the commission in place." Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution are expected to meet next week to pick a new chairman of the commission.  Efforts to contact the former MP were fruitless by the time we went to press as his phone remained unanswered. Mr Onyancha did not also reply a text message we sent him.

The former Assistant minister, who contested the seat on a Ford People ticket during the 2007 general election, lost his seat in December last year following an election petition. His election had been challenged by Simon Ogari of CCM and ODM's Zephaniah Nyangwara. ECK had declared Mr Onyancha the winner after garnering a total of 9,076 votes against Mr Simon Ogari's 7,221.

High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Musiga declared his seat null, citing massive irregularities. Justice Musinga however absolved him of blame saying ECK was responsible for the mess. The Judge said the returning officer, Mr Tobias Macharia and other ECK officials in the district failed during the electioneering process.  He said there were no complete Forms 16A and was therefore not possible to certify who won. Consequently, he ordered the elections watchdog to pay the costs of the suit.