Wambora survives as challenger withdraws petition

Embu Governor-elect, Martin Wambora, can now breathe a sigh of relief after his main opponent in the concluded August 8 polls, Lenny Kivuti, withdrew a petition against his re-election.

Kivuti, who is the outgoing Embu Senator, has withdrawn his petition after the High Court in Embu rejected his bid to stop the gazettement of Wambora and his swearing-in ceremony set for tomorrow (August 17).

The move comes before the start of the petition hearing that was set to kick off today (August 17) before Lady Justice, Florence Muchemi, at the Embu High Court.

According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) website, Martin Wambora, of the Jubilee Party was declared winner of the Embu gubernatorial race after garnering 97,544 votes against Maendeleo Chap Chap’s (MCC) Lenny Kivuti who amassed 96,597 votes.

To the surprise of many during his first tenure as Governor, Mr. Wambora survived three impeachment motions filed against him by the Embu County Assembly on accounts of misuse of county funds and gross violation of the constitution.

On both occasions, both the High Court and the Senate have vindicated Governor Wambora as a result of lack of evidence.