Embakasi East MP Babu Owino election upheld

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino’s election has been upheld.

A visibly elated Owino who was carried shoulder-high by his supporters outside the court said:

“I would tell my opponents to wake up and move on. I also invite them to come and help me serve the people of Embakasi.

“There is a time to lead and a time to be led…my opponents should respect those in power now so that when their time comes they can be respected too.”

In his ruling, Justice Mohammed Warsame further dismissed allegations that the Returning Officer was under pressure to declare Owino as the winner.

“We can’t understand how Babu Owino intimidated the RO and how pressure affected the results,” ruled Justice Warsame.

“Babu was validly elected,” he said.

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

He stated that the High Court 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 opposition legislator further claimed that 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 were listed as first to third respondents in the appeal.