The Court of Appeal in Eldoret has upheld Nandi Hills MP Alfred Kiptoo Keter's election in an appeal case he filed after a nullification ruling on March 1.
Keter, a fire brand politician had moved to court challenging the nullification of his election where he emerged the winner garnering 28,923 votes against the challenger's 13,872 votes.
The MP lost his seat after a successful petition by his challenger Bernard Kibor, an independent candidate, a decision that Keter moved to court to challenge.
[caption caption="MP Alfred Keter in Eldoret court"]
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Speaking to jubilant supporters after the win, Keter stated "Waswahili walisema siku ya nyani kufa, miti yote huteleza na pia meli ya kuzama ni ya kuzama (Swahili people said that when fate conspires for a monkeys death, all the trees in the forest get slippery and that a sinking ship cannot be salvaged)."
"Mimi napigwa vita na wezi kwa kusema ukweli (All the woes I am undergoing are choreographed by thieves for my role in exposing the truth)," the MP stated.
Warning his political nemesis shortly after the ruling, Keter quipped, "They had vowed that I will not return to parliament because they know, when I am there the maize and tea cartels as well as the corrupt have no opportunity to thrive."
The three-judge bench of Justices Erastus Githinji, Fatuma Sijale and Anna Okwengu overturned the previous ruling by the High Court declaring Keter the validly elected MP for Nandi Hills.
Keter's legal team led by Rarienda MP and lawyer Otiende Amollo had, however, argued that the High Court erred in law by nullifying the election based on non-factual evidence.
"The High Court used a single ground that Keter campaigned in six places on August 6, last year, but we have argued that there was no evidence to that effect," Amollo had told the court.
On his part, Kibor through his lawyer Amos Magut, had accused IEBC of colluding with Keter to rig him out arguing that the MP had campaigned out of the time stipulated by the electoral laws.
Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter election upheld by the court of appeal pic.twitter.com/2dwvnk20TD
— Gitau (@ItsGitau_) July 11, 2018
Elsewhere, the Court of Appeal upheld the election of Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru in a case filed by Daniel Karaba.
Making the ruling, the court reduced the cost of suit to be paid out to Senator Kibiru from Ksh10 million to Ksh5 million and further prevented three voters behind the case from pursuing it further.
