The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the elections of Embu Governor Martin Wambora and Nyamira's John Nyangarama.
The elected public officials will, therefore, continue to serve as the governors of their respective counties for the remainder of their terms in office.
The election of Wambora had been challenged by former Embu senator Lenny Kivuti.
Issuing the judgement, the Supreme Court indicated that Kivuti's petition lacked merit.
Speaking soon after the Supreme Court ruling, Wambora indicated, “These election petitions have really slowed us down; too much time has been spent in court.”
Before Wambora’s case came to the Supreme Court, Kivuti was dissatisfied with the ruling of the Court of Appeal that had overturned that of the High Court, which had nullified the governor’s election.
Justices William Ouko, Daniel Musinga, and Fatuma Sichale ruled in the favour of Wambora.
The judges indicated that Kivuti, who challenged the governor’s victory in the August 2017 election, did not have any sufficient evidence to prove his case.
According to the ruling, the former senator did not manage to discharge the legal burden of proof to reach levels of required standards that would show irregularities in the election.
Kenyans have witnessed the governor struggling with petitions and impeachments for the better part of his two terms in office.
On the other hand, Governor Nyangarama’s win was challenged by Walter Osebe Nyambati of Jubilee. The governor was declared the winner of the 2017 election on an ODM ticket.
The case had to be heard by the Supreme Court after Nyambati was dissatisfied with the rulings of both the High Court in Nyamira and the Court of Appeal in Kisumu.
