Clement Waibara unseats Wanjiku Kibe in Gatundu North

Ms Wanjiku wa Kibe. She has lost her seat. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • The key irregularities found included loss of four unused ballot booklets of 50 ballot papers each from Mungai, Kawira and Mang’u polling stations.

  • The scrutiny report also revealed that 114 votes, which according to Form 35 A were cast in favour of Mr Waibara, were missing from the ballot box of one of the streams at Mutuma Primary School.

  • The tally sheet was missing and the ballot box had been broken, the court established.

  • Further, 115 votes, which according to Form 35 A were cast in favour of Mr Kigo Njenga were missing in the ballot box.

Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe has become the first female MP to be thrown out of Parliament through a court petition.

The High Court in Kiambu on Thursday said the election held on August 8, 2017 was marred by “massive irregularities”.

SH3 MILLION

Judge Joel Ngugi indicted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for the mistakes.

The petition was filed by Mr Clement Waibara who served as the area MP between 2007 and 2013.

In his ruling, Justice Ngugi said the process was not free and fair.

The court, however, absolved Ms Kibe, a former nominated MCA, of any wrongdoing, with the judge saying that she never participated in propagating the irregularities.

The court has ordered IEBC to pay the MP Sh3 million as legal fee while Mr Waibara will get Sh1.5 million.

IRREGULARITIES

“The first respondent simply offered herself for the election as a candidate and diligently did her campaign. She is a victim of the second respondent’s (IEBC’s) failure as much as the people of Gatundu North constituency are,” said the judge. 

Justice Ngugi ruled that although most of the 30 grounds raised by Mr Waibara— who ran as an independent candidate after losing the Jubilee Party ticket to Ms Kibe— were not supported, concerns over the manner the poll was conducted carried the day.

While the IEBC and Ms Kibe in their defences said the irregularities were minor and could not affect the outcome of the election, the court found them to be very grave.

The key irregularities found included loss of four unused ballot booklets of 50 ballot papers each from Mungai, Kawira and Mang’u polling stations.

The scrutiny report also revealed that 114 votes, which according to Form 35 A were cast in favour of Mr Waibara, were missing from the ballot box of one of the streams at Mutuma Primary School.

4 OTHER MPS

The tally sheet was missing and the ballot box had been broken, the court established.

Further, 115 votes, which according to Form 35 A were cast in favour of Mr Kigo Njenga were missing in the ballot box.

Three votes cast in favour of Dominic Gicheru at Mungai Primary School were also missing.

Also out of the 29 polling stations that were scrutinised, at least 12 had their copies of Form 35 As missing inside the ballot box.

Ms Kibe joins four other MPs who have been dethroned so far.

They include Alfred Keter of Nandi Hills, Chris Karani of Ugenya, Markawet East MP Kangogo Bowen and Lamu West's Stanley Muthama.