Wanjiru’s son, Steven Kariuki, was also directed by the Court to pay Sh2 million as costs for the petition.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 13 – The eldest son of former Starehe MP Bishop Margaret Wanjiru has lost a petition for the Mathare Constituency seat after the High Court declared that George Wanjohi was validly elected.
Justice George Kimondo said that Kariuki did not give sufficient grounds why Wanjohi’s win should be nullified after claiming that the election was marred by malpractices.
On March 7, Kariuki was erroneously declared the winner of the Mathare seat by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and issued with a winner’s certificate.
But immediately after the declaration, the Returning Officer rectified the mistake and instead said that it was Wanjohi who had won the seat.
This obviously didn’t go down well with Kariuki who said that he would not give back the winner’s certificate and that he would challenge the IEBC’s decision in court.
“I am in utter shock and dismayed with information being sent around the media houses and the general public by IEBC purporting to have irregularly issued me with a certificate of results of Member of Parliament for the National Assembly, Mathare parliamentary seat,” he said on March 9.
Kariuki had been declared ‘winner’ with 34,076 votes against Wanjohi’s 32,156 votes. The official results gazetted by the IEBC however showed that Wanjohi got 27,262 votes while Kariuki got 26,916.
“I have consulted my legal team and any person with disputes concerning the March 4th election should follow the IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan’s advice and go to the elections’ court as prescribed in the Elections Act,” he said at the time.
The IEBC is scheduled to hold seven by-elections on October 17 among them the Siaya gubernatorial mini-poll and two on Members of the National Assembly for Kibwezi West and Matungulu constituencies.
Ilima (Kaiti constituency), Kahawa Sukari (Ruiru constituency), Mnagei (Kapenguria constituency) and Benane (Lagdera constituency) wards will also hold a mini poll on the same date.
This comes after the courts nullified wins in those areas.
About The Author
