The hearing of the petition challenging the election victory for the Mbeere North MP, Leo Wa Muthende Njeru, on Tuesday took a dramatic turn at the Embu High Court as the petitioner, Newton Kariuki Ndwiga, faced intense cross-examination from defence lawyers seeking to dismantle his claims against the election outcome.
Ndwiga, who is seeking to have the election of Njeru nullified, took the witness stand to defend the allegations he has raised in his petition, insisting that the by-election was marred by widespread irregularities.
During the proceedings, Ndwiga maintained that there were serious discrepancies in several polling stations, arguing that individuals who were not authorized voters in Mbeere North were allowed to cast their ballots.
He told the court that the alleged malpractices compromised the integrity of the election and justified his demand for the results to be nullified.
However, the defence counsel representing the MP, led by Dr Adrian Kamotho, subjected the petitioner to a rigorous cross-examination, pressing him to provide concrete proof of how the alleged irregularities occurred in the various polling stations cited in his affidavit.
Kamotho systematically walked Ndwiga through the polling stations he had mentioned, challenging him to demonstrate how the alleged electoral malpractices took place and whether he had sufficient evidence to support his claims.
In a lighter moment that briefly eased the tension in the courtroom, Ndwiga, who is also a musician, told the court that he could not lie while giving testimony.
“I cannot lie in court. I only lie when I am singing,” Ndwiga said, causing laughter in court.
Meanwhile, Charles Mwongela, the lawyer representing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), also took the petitioner through a detailed cross-examination, pushing him to explain precisely how the electoral body allegedly failed in conducting a fair by-election.
Mwongela challenged Ndwiga to demonstrate where the commission erred in the management of the election and whether the claims he raised met the legal threshold required to invalidate the results. In his affidavit, Ndwiga claimed that the by-election was marked with irregularities and that the election of Njeru should be cancelled.
He alleged that in some polling stations, voting was disrupted, suspended, or abandoned due to violence and intimidation.
He also alleged that some duly registered voters were turned away at polling stations or denied the franchise through unlawful manipulation of the register or failure of prescribed voting procedures.
He claimed that counting and tallying votes were conducted in opacity while statutory forms were unsigned, forged or defective.
Further, Ndwiga argued that there was voter bribery and undue influence on voters.
He argued that the results declared did not reflect the free will of the electorates of Mbeere North Constituency.
Ndwiga invited the Court to undertake a quantitative analysis by identifying the number of votes affected by each of the alleged irregularities, aggregating such votes and comparing the total against the margin of victory declared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in accordance with the settled jurisprudence.
Mr Njeru, who has already been sworn in as the Mbeere North MP, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ( IEBC), and Mbeere North Constituency returning officer John Mwii Kinyua have been cited as the first, second and third respondents, respectively.
UDA candidate won the Mbeere North constituency seat with 15,802 votes against his closest challenger, Newton Kariuki Ndwiga (Karish) of DP, who garnered 15,308 votes.
Mr Duncan Mbui of Chama cha Kazi was a distant third with 2,480 in an election the UDA candidate won with a thin margin of 494 votes, as announced by returning officer Mr Kinyua.
The total number of votes cast in the constituency with 55,124 registered voters was 33,947, representing 61.9 voter turnout, one of the highest in Kenya
