Court to rule next month in case challenging Ngilu’s win

Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu will know her fate on March 2 when a court delivers a judgment in a petition challenging her election.

Justice Pauline Nyamweya set the date after receiving final submissions from lawyers in the suit.

Justice Nyamweya had directed lawyers Kioko Kilukumi (for Ngilu), Mr Appollo Muinde and Mr Moses Kurgat  for the petitioner Dr Julius Malombe and Mr Elias Masika and Ms Dorothy Mageto for the electoral commission to file written submissions by yesterday after concluding a scrutiny and recount exercise.

ALLEGATIONS

In their final submission on Friday, Mr Kilukumi and Mr Masika urged the judge to dismiss with costs the petition filed by former governor Malombe who they said had failed to prove the allegations levelled the incumbent.

Mr Kilukumi said Dr Malombe, who came a distant third after the final vote count during last year’s August 8 General Election, did not provide any evidence which the court could rely on to nullify the governor’s victory.

“Ms Ngilu was declared the winner of the hotly contested polls by county returning officer Albert Gogo after garnering over 160,000 votes while the runners up Mr David Musila got 115,000 votes and Dr Malombe managed to get 74,000,” said Mr Kilukumi.

The lawyer said the governor, who is also a former presidential candidate and former Lands Cabinet Secretary, satisfactorily answered each of the allegations levelled against her by Dr Malombe. He distanced the governor from claims of unleashing violence, bribery, campaigns during the polling day and blocking agents of Dr Malombe from accessing polling stations and tallying centres.

Mr Masika and Ms Mageto said the elections in Kitui were conducted in accordance with the law. “The scrutiny and recount exercise bears witness that the elections were conducted in a free and fair environment,” said Mr Masika.

He said after the recount the governor’s votes increased and that forms 37A were authentic. He urged the judge to dismiss the case.

Mr Muinde and Mr Kurgat, for the petitioner, said they had proved the petition against Ms Ngilu to the required standards.

The lawyers said violence reigned and that the governor colluded with electoral officials to rig the elections in her favour.

They urged the judge to consider all the evidence Dr Malombe had tendered and find Ms Ngilu was wrongly declared winner and nullify her election with costs.