Malindi High Court Judge, Weldon Korir on Tuesday rejected a call by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi to disqualify himself from hearing a petition filed against him.
The governor accused the Judge of being biased pending a hearing on the election petition filed by Kazungu Kambi questioning the validity of his win.
Mr Kingi made the application to Chief Justice David Maraga, through his counsel Ben Mosota and Aoko Otieno claiming that the Judge was not impartial.
Governor Kingi lamented that Justice Korir had issued two rulings allowing the petitioner to deposit of the lawsuit without making an oral or formal application.
[caption caption="Justice Weldon Korir"]
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He further argued that the judge’s decision to extend time to deposit security contravenes Article 87 of the constitution, Section 78 of the Elections Act and Rule 13 of the election petition.
The Governor requested that the file be transferred to Justice Maraga to appoint and gazette another judge for the petition.
During the August 8 general elections, the former Cabinet Secretary lost his bid for the top county seat and sued the IEBC and the county returning officer Nelly Ilongo.
Mr Kazungu who vied on KADU Asili ticket garnered 44, 470 votes, while governor Kingi won with 280,686.
He, however, claims that he has files in his possession that prove Kingi came in third by attaining 46,781 votes only.
[caption caption="Former Labor CS Kazungu Kambi"]
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Furthermore, Justice Korir struck out another petition filed by a Jubilee supporter William Kahindi challenging Kingi’s election, stating that it was filed out of time.
