Embu Resident Judge Lady Justice Hedwig Ong’undi further directed Kiragu to pay Wambora Sh750,000 and a further Sh750,000 to both Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Area County Returning Officer David Kiambi.
EMBU, Kenya, Aug 22 – The High Court has upheld the election of Martin Wambora as the Embu County Governor after rejecting a petition filed by gubernatorial loser Kithinji Kiragu.
Kithinji, who contested the seat on an Alliance Party of Kenya ticket (APK), lost the election to Wambora on the National Alliance Party (TNA).
In her ruling, Justice Ong’undi said Kithinji did not present enough evidence to show that the malpractices that occurred could have affected the final results of the March 4 General Election.
Ong’undi said after recount of the votes in some polling stations in Runyenjes and Manyatta constituencies, Wambora won by a margin of 4,829 votes.
She said contrary to Kithinji’s assertions, the number of votes cast in both Runyenjes and Manyatta constituencies did not exceed the number of registered voters.
Ong’undi however noted that there were minor irregularities and errors in the voting and tallying process in a few polling stations but said they were not substantial and did not affect the outcome of the election.
She said Kithinji failed to show the court how the election were flawed adding that human errors were inevitable although in this case they did not affect the final outcome.
She however called on IEBC to ensure that such minor irregularities and errors do not occur in future to prevent discrepancies in elections.
She added that the election results were announced as per the law contrary to Kithinji’s allegations that Kiambi should not have announced election results knowing very well that there were errors.
Ong’undi noted that Kiambi wanted to wait for forms 36 to be scrutinised before announcing the winner but gave in to the tension and anxiety and announced Wambora as the winner because even after the difference was verified, he was still ahead.
Wambora hailed the judgment saying justice prevailed and called upon Kithinji to come on board and work together to develop Embu County.
Several other petitions are pending including that of Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Kilifi’s Amason Kingi, Mombasa’s Hassan Joho and Kisumu’s Cornel Rasanga.
A total of 24 petitions had been filed to challenge the elections of various Governors while 13 were challenging the election of Senators.
Seventy of those filed were to contest the election of various Members of the National Assembly while nine were challenging Women Representatives.
Sixty seven County Assembly representatives and five Speakers of County Assemblies also had their elections challenged.
About The Author
