Machakos County Governor Alfred Mutua on Friday lost an application seeking to dismiss a petition filed by his rival Wavinya Ndeti.
The Court dismissed Mutua's application that wanted the entire petition thrown out on grounds that it lacked merit.
The Governor had asked the Court to throw out the former Kathiani MP's petition as it had "massive defects" that included the omission of the Deputy Governor.
[caption caption="File image of Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua"]
[/caption]
According to Mutua's lawyer, the Governor is legally elected together with his deputy and as such the two cannot be separated.
“This is incurable and fatally defective since Article 180( 5 ) of the Constitution mandates a county governor to nominate a qualified person to be elected as a deputy governor,” the lawyers submitted.
The former MP moved to court in September to challenge the re-election of Mutua citing massive irregularities.
She also alleges that Forms 37A, 37B and 37C used to declare the results were not signed and that there were non-existent polling centers, culminating in the unlawful declaration of Mutua as the winner of the governorship race.
According to the former Assistant Minister, the August 8 election results were dubious and do not reflect the voting that took place.
She wants the Court to make a declaration that Governor Mutua’s re-election was null and void.
[caption caption="File image of Machakos Gubernatorial hopeful Wavinya Ndeti with her running mate Peter Mathuki "]
[/caption]
“The votes purportedly cast across the many polling stations in the eight constituencies of Machakos County in respect to the governor’s election are far in excess of the total number of registered voters. Such an electoral result cannot be lawful or valid,” Ndeti submitted.
