Court Orders Vote Recount in Homa Bay

The High Court in Homa Bay on Monday ordered a recount and scrutiny of votes cast in the Gubernatorial race during the August 8 General Election.

In the hearing of the petition filed by former Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga challenging the election of Governor Cyprian Awiti, the court stated that it would give further direction on how the scrutiny and recount should be undertaken on Thursday.

Tom Ojienda, acting for Governor Awiti, made an application seeking to review the recount and the court's initial orders on scrutiny of voting materials but this was dismissed.

The Court had on November  7 ordered for scrutiny of Forms 37A, 37B and 37C that were used to declare the winner as well as KIEMS kits used by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Justice Joseph Karanja stated that Ojienda's application was not made in good faith and should have been filed in the early stages of the proceedings.

[caption caption="Governor Awiti with NASA leader Raila Odinga"][/caption]

Charles Kanjama, Magwanga's lawyer, indicated that the recount would most probably affect 30 percent of ballot boxes used in the election, meaning about 300 of them could be opened.

Homa Bay, where a section of the county headquarters was recently burnt down, had 1,062 polling stations.

The court is expected to give direction on ballot boxes from which polling stations it deems fit for further scrutiny.

Magwanga maintains that he won the election with 223,311 votes while Awiti got 179,551 votes.

If Governor Awiti's win is nullified, Homa Bay will have a by-election to choose a new Governor.

[caption caption="Governor Awiti with DP William Ruto"][/caption]