Julius Malombe appeals election petition ruling

Malombe

Kitui Governor Julius Malombe.

Photo credit: File

What you need to know:

  • On March 2, the High Court dismissed the petition Mr Malombe filed against Ms Ngilu's win.
  • Mr Malombe said the ruling had errors and it was read by a judge not gazetted to handle election petitions.

Former Kitui Governor Julius Malombe has filed an appeal against the High Court decision to dismiss his election petition.

He had filed a petition against Governor Charity Ngilu’s win, but it was dismissed on March 2, 2018.

APPEAL

In his appeal, he said he is dissatisfied with Justice Pauline Nyamweya’s ruling. He wants it set aside and the governor’s election invalidated.

Dr Malombe said the ruling was delivered by a judge who is not gazetted to handle election petitions.

According to his lawyer Apollo Muinde, Justice John Mativo, who delivered the ruling last week on behalf of Justice Nyamweya, is not among the list of High Court Judges gazetted by the Chief Justice to hear petitions and therefore should not have been allowed to read the judgment.

Justice Mativo read the ruling on the evening of March 2 on behalf by Lady Justice Nyamweya who was said to be unwell.

ERRORS

Mr Muinde also claimed that the ruling had errors. He said it indicated the election petition was about Kitui East Constituency instead of Kitui County.

The former governor served his notice of appeal through the media.

His lawyer said the materials provided in court were sufficient to warrant a nullification of Ms Ngilu’s election and said dismissing the petition was an “erroneous decision”.

RULING

In her judgment, Justice Nyamweya ruled that Governor Ngilu was validly elected and that the petitioner, Dr Malombe, failed to table sufficient evidence to prove his claims of irregularities in the election.

The judge said claims that Dr Malombe's agents were denied access to polling stations were mere hearsay.

She added that Dr Malombe failed to prove that Ms Ngilu caused violence and intimidated his supporters.

On claims of voter bribery, the judge said no one saw Ms Ngilu bribing voters.

EVIDENCE

The only evidence that was proved was errors in tallying in 10 polling stations, which affected all the three candidates and not just the petitioner.

But the judge said they were not substantial to affect the final outcome.

Justice Nyamweya attributed the mistakes to human error and fatigue, as admitted by the returning officer.

The judge ordered Dr Malombe to pay Sh6 million in costs – Sh3 million to Ms Ngilu and Sh3 million to IEBC.