The Supreme court of Kenya has on Friday 21st December ruled that Machakos Governor Dr. Alfred Mutua was validly elected into office during the 2017 General Elections.
This ends the back and forth between the governor and his antagonist Wavinya Ndeti over the seat that has been going on for sometime now with the latter claiming that the former government spokesman was favoured.
Supreme Court declares Machakos Governor @DrAlfredMutua validly elected in 2017 poll#YaliyopitaSiNdwele pic.twitter.com/zClx3on3ev
— Robin Njogu (@robinnjogu) December 21, 2018
His win was challenged by Wavinya Ndeti in an election petition filed at the High Court in Machakos. The petition was dismissed by the High Court. Wavinya then filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, which reversed the judgment of the High Court and declared that Governor Alfred Mutua had not been duly elected.
In the election, Mutua garnered 249,603 out of the 461,706 valid votes cast, while Wavinya managed 209,149. The difference between the two candidates was therefore well over 40,000 votes. Wavinya challenged Mutua’s election on a number of grounds.One was IEBC’s use of county employees as election officers.
Today the Supreme court is going to decide the fate of machakos. Machakos people are impatiently waiting to get justice after the long wait. It's my prayer that the Supreme Court grants a by-election to machakos pic.twitter.com/Pxaaoz9gbj
— mzalendo machakos (@nyamakwota) December 21, 2018
Wavinya also accused Mutua’s political party of using county officers as its agents. County officers are public officers and it is an election offence for a public officer to engage in the activities of any political party or candidate. It is also an election offence for a public officer to act as an agent of a political party.
More to follow…