Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has maintained that he won the gubernatorial seat fairly and faulted the Court of Appeal for nullifying his election on a technicality.
Arguing before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Dr Mutua through lawyer Kioko Kilukumi admitted that the returning officer made a “slight deviation” and used an excel spreadsheet to collate and announce the results.
I Thank God for delivering Justice to the people of Machakos at the Court of Appeal recently.
Machakos people will soon have a unique opportunity collectively to lead in chatting a new future for their County. pic.twitter.com/5HhpdKR3W0
— Wavinya Ndeti Oduwole (@Wavinya_Ndeti) September 26, 2018
His counterpart Ms Wavinya Ndeti said no one still knows who won the Machakos gubernatorial seat because the results announced by the returning officer cannot be verified.
Through Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, Ms Ndeti said the results announced on August 11, last years were “fake, cooked-up and there was no way that the declaration could be verified”.
He said the fact that the returning officer failed to use the prescribed form undermines the credibility of the results. “The issue of verifiability was settled in the Raila Odinga (2017) case. The system used must be simple, accurate and verifiable. The inability to verify is a weighty constitutional ground,” he said.
This morning at the Supreme Court during the hearing of appeal against the Appellate Court ruling on the Machakos Gubernatorial election.
I thank my legal team led by Counsels Waweru Gatonye and Kioko Kilukumi for laying out my argument before the apex court. pic.twitter.com/8lV75OPOxF
— Dr. Alfred Mutua (@DrAlfredMutua) September 26, 2018
Dr Mutua of Maendeleo Chap Chap garnered 249,603 votes against Ms Ndeti’s 209,141 during the August 8 polls.
High Court judge Aggrey Muchelule had dismissed Ms Ndeti’s petition but on appeal, Dr Mutua’s win was nullified as three judges faulted the returning officer of using the wrong form.
The Supreme Court judges will give their decision upon notifying the parties.
A fresh start awaits us and am confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the Court of Appeal ruling that ruled that Alfred Mutua was not validly declared as the Governor of Machakos County. pic.twitter.com/pgc0oiPtmk
— Wavinya Ndeti Oduwole (@Wavinya_Ndeti) September 26, 2018