Narok governor retains seat after petition ruling

Narok Governor Samuel Tunai has retained his seat after the High Court in Nakuru dismissed a petition filed by Mr Ledama ole Kina.

Lady Justice Roselyne Wendo said Ole Kina’s ‘lone’ evidence that was hinged on seven documents was not sufficient to overturn Mr Tunai's election.

The Narok governor was declared winner after garnering over 80,000 votes.

But Ole Kina immediately applied for certified copies of the proceedings to enable him launch an appeal.

He said he was dissatisfied with the outcome claiming that ‘fatal’ and ‘enormous’ errors had been exposed making the election a sham and did not reflect the will of Narok voters.

The Judge termed bribery and corruption claims against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as unfortunate.

The petitioner was also ordered to pay Sh4.5million as costs for the suit.

She ordered that the commission be paid Sh3million in damages while the governor and his deputy Everlyne Chepkurui will share Sh1.5 million.

SIX ELECTIONS

“The errors were admitted and explained and I agree with the IEBC that they were caused by the heavy workload coupled with the complex process where six elections were being conducted at the same time.

Human errors were due to occur and that allowance was given, she added.

“In this case errors were very minor and did not substantially affect the process. The petitioner made general claims but did not present any witnesses to support his case.

Indeed some fresh claims that had not been pleaded earlier were made later. I find that no substantial claim has been made to adversely affect the results,” she observed.

The court also observed that exclusion of 19 ballot boxes from Narok West and Kilgoris constituencies during scrutiny and recount affected all candidates contrary to Ole Kina’s claim that Tunai was being favoured.

Ole Kina had claimed that the IEBC officials had been compromised in favour of Mr Tunai who also influenced the recruitment of IEBC agents.

But the court dismissed the assertion saying no evidence had been presented before it to prove such a claim.

Ole Kina’s Lawyer Saitabau Kanchory successfully applied for a stay and was granted 30 days to enable him prepare and file his appeal.