Petition witnesses disappear

By Alex Namuliro

Kakamega, Kenya: An election petition against Khwisero MP Benjamin Andola took a new twist after three witnesses expected to testify for the petitioner disappeared mysteriously.

Through his lawyer, Benjamin Andama told the court the witnesses disappeared in unclear circumstances.

The case also took an unexpected turn when the petitioner filed a supplementary application on the tampering of ballot boxes, which was revealed on June 13, when the boxes were being transported from Butere to Kakamega.

“We realised that some of the seals on the ballot boxes were tampered with and some of the forms 35 and 36 were missing,” the lawyer told the court.

This led to the postponement of the full hearing of the case on Tuesday, which is supposed to happen after all the parties in the case deliberate on whether the petitioner’s supplementary application should be considered in the case or not.

In another case at the same court, a petition against the election of Lurambi MP Raphael Otaalo continued with the petitioner Anthony Luyundi closing his case after testifying together with three other witnesses.

Luyundi told presiding Judge Juma Chitembwe that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission put the wrong name on the ballot paper, something that made him lose the election.

“My name was not correctly captured and although the picture was mine and even the party symbol, my opponents reaped from this anomaly,” Luyundi told the court.

The case continues on Tuesday.