Supreme Court throws out Nick Salat’s petition

Bomet County Senator Prof Wilfred Lesan will remain in office after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Kanu Secretary General Nick Salat challenging is election.

Salat moved to the Supreme in June last year seeking to have the court annul Lesan’s election win, stating that it was marred by massive irregularities.

The Kanu Secretary General moved to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal dismissed the petition.

Through his lawyer Stephen Mwenesi, Salat asked judges to allow him to seek justice without being declared time-barred.

In opposition, Lesan’s lawyer Paul Lilian said the application could have set a wrong precedence by creating a loophole where all election petitions would be moved to the Supreme Court.

In its ruling on Monday, a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga ruled that Salat did not provide enough evidence to support his claims that the senatorial election in 2013 was flawed.

Salat came second in the Bomet County Senate race, garnering 98,036 votes against Senator Lesan who was declared the winner with 115,931 votes.

In 2013, the High Court slapped Nick Salat with a Sh70 million bill after his election petition flopped.

The court upheld the election of Lesan, with the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) demanding that Salat settles the bill for the suit.

Election petitions began after CORD coalition moved to the Supreme Court to contest the presidential results which placed Uhuru Kenyatta at the top.

After days of contestation in the corridors of justice, the Supreme Court upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the president in a ‘unanimous vote’.

Several governors, senators, and MPs have since been faced with court cases with their opponents contesting their elections.

Most notable is the protestation of the election of CORD co-principal Moses Wetangula as Bungoma Senator.

The petition filed by his opponent Musikari Kombo of New Ford Kenya led to a by-election which Moses Wetangula went ahead to win.

The intrigues surrounding Wetangula’s case did not end there, with IEBC calling for his removal from the voter register for flouting election regulations.

The announcement has led to a public revolt from members of the CORD coalition with Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale linking Wetangula’s woes to the Jubilee Government.

In his pronouncement last week, Khalwale said: “The State is trying to impose to the people the leaders they want, and this is what is happening within the Luhya community right now.”

In the case filed in March, Wetagula’s opponent Musikari Kombo made allegations of bribery saying Wetangula gave Sh260,000 to bishops and pastors who attended a meeting at Red Cross Kanduyi on February 2013.

Wetangula was declared winner in the Bungoma Senatorial race in 2013 having garnered 145,469 votes against Kombo’s 125,853.