Babu Owino files appeal against nullification of his election

Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino has moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the nullification of his election by the High Court.

In an application filed through Lawyer Jackson Awele, Owino wants the decision to nullify his election be substituted with an order dismissing the Election petition.

“We pray that the Court be pleased to declare that the Owino Paul Ongili Babu was duly elected as the Member of the National Assembly, Embakasi East Constituency in accordance with the Constitution and the Elections Act,” Awele says in the court papers.

The first-time legislator also wants the appellate court to set aside the ruling on scrutiny and recount of Embakasi East votes given on February 12, 2018 by Justice Joseph Sergon.

Mr. Owino, who filed a notice of appeal on March 7, says he was dissatisfied with the decision of Justice Sergon as he erred in law in nullifying the election without sufficient evidence.

He avers that the judge “ignored the relevant and binding legal standards for the evaluation of evidence in election petitions and in so doing ascribed excessive weight to irrelevant and weak evidence.”

“The Learned Judge erred in law in his finding that the results of the election were not verifiable on the basis of a sample of administrative errors in only 2 out of 208 polling stations in Embakasi East Constituency,” reads the court documents.

The opposition legislator claims Justice Sergon erred in law by ordering scrutiny and recount of votes in the entire constituency then nullifying the election on the basis of “trivial arithmetic errors.”

The petitioner, Francis Mureithi, Returning Officer Nicholas Buttuk and IEBC have been listed as first to third respondents in the appeal.