Relief for Malava MP Malulu as court upholds his victory

Malava MP Malulu Injendi. The High Court in Kakamega has upheld his victory in elections held last August.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group.

A Kakamega court has dismissed a petition challenging the election of Malulu Injendi as Malava Member of Parliament (MP) and ordered the applicant to pay Sh4 million as the cost of the suit.

The petition was filed by Mr Seth Panyako who contested the Malava parliamentary seat on United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.

Mr Panyako claimed the election of Malulu who contested on ANC party was fraudulent and asked the court to nullify his victory.

He argued that the election was marred with election violence, voter bribery, intimidation, and failure of the Kiems system leading to manual voting system that resulted to stuffing of the ballot boxes in favour of his competitor. 

Failed to prove case

Judge Rachael Rotich, in her judgement delivered virtually, ruled that the petitioner failed to prove the election was marred with malpractices including voter bribery, intimidation, violence and ballot stuffing.

During last year's general election, Independent Electoral  and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced Mr Malulu victorious after beating Panyako with 22,891 votes against 20,133 votes.

The court further slapped the petitioner with Sh4 million as the cost of the suit to be shared equally between (IEBC) and Mr Injendi.

Mr Panyako disputed the ruling saying the court ignored to consider crucial evidence presented by him.

"The court asked me to produce Form 32A, which was the role of IEBC and went ahead to claim that I failed to produce conviction over violence claims yet people were injured, filled P3 forms and even testified," he added. 

He vowed to appeal the court ruling.