Nyeri County Governor Nderitu Gachagua, two MPs win poll petitions

By JOB WERU and Michael Wesonga

A governor and two MPs whose election had been challenged on Monday breathed a sigh of relief after judges hearing their cases ruled in their favour.

In Nyeri, the High Court dismissed an election petition against Governor Nderitu Gachagua even as he faces an impeachment motion by the Nyeri County Assembly.

On Monday, it was song and dance after High Court Judge James Wakiaga upheld Gachagua’s election.

Gachagua, who was represented in the petition by lawyer Njoroge Regeru, left Nyeri High Court a happy man, as supporters who jammed the packed courtroom celebrated after Justice Wakiaga completed his ruling that took about two hours.

The ruling marked the end of a tumultuous journey for Gachagua, whose election had been challenged by Mr Thuo Mathenge.

Mathenge had argued that IEBC registered his running mate as Geoffrey Gitonga Ndegwa instead of Geoffrey Kamau Kibui, a misrepresentation he argued had cost him votes.

In his ruling, Wakiaga noted that the misrepresentation of names on the ballot paper could not have affected the outcome of the results, since the ballot also had other features such the name of the governor, his photo, party name and symbol among others.

 

“I find that the misrepresentation of names could not have influenced the voters to vote for another person,” Wakiaga noted. The judge also ordered that IEBC be listed as one of the respondents to pay costs of the suit, which amount to not more than Sh2.5 million plus taxes.

Witnesses bribed

In Baringo, High Court judge Justice Lydia Achode declared Sammy Mwaita as the duly elected MP for Baringo Central during the March 4 election.

The judge, sitting in Eldoret, said the petitioner, Hosea Kiplagat, failed to substantiate his claims of irregularities in the polls and only relied on his witnesses.

She further observed that the two prosecution witnesses relied on by the petitioner had admitted to being bribed and were therefore accomplices in an electoral crime.

“However I also found them unreliable since they kept on shifting their testimony even contradicting each other at one point,” she argued.

Kiplagat had filed a petition seeking to have Mwaita’s election nullified

In Busia, Butula legislator Michael Onyura on Monday survived a petition challenging his election after a High Court in Busia dismissed all allegations of election malpractice filed against the MP.

High Court Judge Francis Tuiyott also ordered the petitioner Phillip Osore Ogutu to pay Sh2million as the cost of the petition which will be shared by the respondents.

In his affidavits, the petitioner had claimed that the MP flouted election rules by indulging in voter bribery, voter intimidation, use of public resources to campaign, campaigning after the official campaign period and dissuading voters from voting against him.

But the court ruled that the petitioner was not able to provide enough evidence to back the allegations.

 

Additional report by Renson Buluma