Court upholds Paul Otuoma's victory as Busia governor
Busia Governor Paul Otuoma(kneeling right) during a thanksgiving mass at Mundika Catholic Church on February 9, 2023 after the High Court upheld his victory as area governor.
Busia Governor Paul Otuoma has welcomed the High Court ruling that upheld his win in the August 9, 2022, general election to become the second governor of Busia county.
On Thursday, the High court in Busia struck out with costs a petition filed against Otuoma's victory by his competitor, former Nambale MP John Sakwa Bunyasi, who unsuccessfully contested the gubernatorial seat on Amani National Congress (ANC) ticket in Kenya Kwanza coalition.
The petitioner accused Mr Otuoma of rigging the election and faulted the elctoral body and County Returning Officer Lazarus Chebi of failing to conduct proper elections as per the Constitution.
Mr Otuoma contested the seat on ODM ticket under Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition and won the governor’s seat after he garnered 164,478 votes while Mr Bunyasi got 92,144 votes.
Others who were in the race included Daniel Mogoria who got 14,396 votes, former deputy governor Moses Mulomi (2546 votes), and Michael Oloo who garnered 1675 votes.
In the petition, Mr Bunyasi had asked the Court to order the scrutiny, recount and nullify the Busia gubernatorial election results, citing alleged massive rigging.
The court had ordered a scrutiny of the contents of ballot boxes in nine polling stations in the petition.
Justice David Kimei ordered that the scrutiny of the election materials including ballot boxes be conducted in Bumutiru RC, Elugulu trading centre, Esiunga, Elugulu, Namahindi, Bumulimba, Odiado and Busia township primary schools polling stations.
On Thursday, Justice Kimei ruled that the petition had fallen short of the threshold to show that there were flaws to nullify an election.
"In this instance, the petitioner has fallen short of this threshold. In view of the foregoing observations, it is my finding that the petition lacks merit. It is therefore dismissed with costs," ruled Justice Kimei.
"The costs capped at Sh3 million to be shared among the three respondents," he concluded.
Governor Otuoma said Justice had been served to the people of Busia.
"They had intended to defile us of our justice, but God is always on our side. This has given us the mandate to fully serve the people of Busia with zeal," said Mr Otuoma.
Accompanied by his deputy Arthur Odera, Mr Otuoma went for prayers at Mundika Catholic Parish to thank God for his victory.
