Farah Maalim withdraws appeal against Aden Duale

Former National Assembly Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim on Tuesday withdrew an appeal he had filed in court against Garissa Township MP Aden Duale over the August 8 General Election.

In a notice filed in court, Mr Maalim said he wishes to withdraw the entire petition.

PETITION

The former MP had moved to the Court of Appeal after Justice Hedwig Ongúdi dismissed a petition he had filed challenging Mr Duale’s win.

Mr Maalim had complained of electoral malpractices including bribery of voters and unduly influencing voters during the elections.

But Justice Ongúdi dismissed the claims saying there was no evidence to show any voter who was influenced to vote for Mr Duale against their wish. She further said there was no voter who testified that he or she had been denied a chance to vote on account of their names not captured in the electronic register.

The judge also said that the complaint of the failure by agents to sign Forms 35A in itself is not sufficient ground to annul results. “This court has examined all the allegations made by the petitioner against the available evidence and found none of them proved to the required standard. I have found no irregularity and or malpractice that could have affected the result of the election of the MP for Garissa Township Constituency,” the Judge said.

Justice Ongúdi said from her analysis, it was her finding in respect of each of the allegations raised points to one single conclusion, that Mr Duale, who is also the National Assembly Majority leader, was validly elected.