Supreme Court orders IEBC to conduct fresh election for MP

Miriam Mwende 10:15 - 21 December 2018

Kenya's Supreme Court said the electoral commission had failed in its duty to ensure votes were not tampered with

The Supreme Court of Kenya on Friday ordered the IEBC to conduct a fresh member of parliament election for Ugenya constituency.

The apex court upheld the Court of Appeal decision that nullified MP Christopher Karani's election.

The petition was filed by former MP David Ochieng who decried election malpractice.

Ugenya MP Christopher Karani whose election nullification was upheld by the Supreme Court (twitter)

Smear Campaigns

Mr Ochieng' accused Karani and his ODM party colleagues of engaging in a smear campaign maligning his name and that of his Movement for Democracy and Growth party.

Karani and his cronies propagated a lie that Ochieng' was involved in the murder of former IEBC ICT Manager Chris Msando.

While delivering the ruling, Justice Hannah Okwengu noted that the magnitude of the malpractices coupled with the wild smear campaign put in doubt the validity of Karani's election.

"In the circumstances of this case, I too found that the nature of the malpractices was very grave thus putting the election of the applicant in doubt; elections were validly nullified," she noted.

The Supreme Court also delivered verdicts on 12 other election petitions involving elected governors and MPs.