Supreme Court upholds Babu Owino’s election - KBC

The Supreme Court of Kenya has upheld Court of Appeal ruling that he declared Babu Owino validly elected as Embakasi East MP.

Owino’s election was nullified in a ruling by High Court judge Justice Joseph Kiplagat Sergon, who cited widespread errors.

The petitioner, Jubilee’s Francis Mureithi, had accused Babu of electoral malpractices.

The Apex court has also upheld the election of Members of Parliament Kangogo Bowen of Marakwet East and Annie Wanjiku Kibe of Gatundu North.

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In Bowen’s case, the court ruled that the appeal did not raise issues of interpretation while in Kibe’s case, the court said the irregularities cited did not justify annulment.

The Court of Appeal had said that the High Court erred by revoking Wanjiku’s election saying the anomalies cited were purely administrative errors, which were not substantial to nullify the election.

Bowen’s victory was nullified in the high court after Justice George Kimondo established that two polling stations used to tally the final results of the race had not been gazetted.

Judge Kimondo cited adequate evidence to prove massive irregularities during the election.

The election petition case against Bowen was lodged by Sammy Kipkeu Kemboi, a voter from Marakwet East.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has nullified the Court of Appeal decision that invalidated the election of Lamu Senator Anwar Loitiptip.

The SC judges ruled that the senatorial election was done in accordance with the law and that the Court of Appeal acted in excess of its jurisdiction.

The Senator had sought intervention from the Supreme Court after his election was nullified by the Court of Appeal in Mombasa.

The same court however dealt a blow to Wajir West MP Mohamed Ahmed Kolosh.

It nullified his election and ordered that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conduct a fresh election.

The SC said the election of Wajir West was not done in accordance with the law.