Waibara Asks for Dismissal of Poll Suit

13 July 2011

Nairobi — Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara has asked the court to dismiss with costs a petition challenging his 2007 election victory.

Mr Waibara’s lawyer Evans Ondieki and Mr Ben Mukuria, who represented the Interim Independent Electoral Commission, urged the judge to dismiss the case with costs, saying:

“The witnesses who tendered testimony were peddlers of untruths.”

Mr Bernard Chege Mburu, who challenged Mr Waibara’s election, alleged that the 2007 election in Gatundu North was marred by violence and voter bribery by Mr Waibara and his supporters.

He also claimed that the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya cleared Mr Waibara to contest the seat knowing that he was not proficient in English and Kiswahili.

Mr Martin Ndung’u Kahura, one of the witnesses called by Mr Mburu, said he sat for the “proficiency test for Mr Waibara in 2007”.

Mr Kahura said that he was a diploma graduate of the Kenya Polytechnic.

But it later emerged he had forged the certificate of another student. “Mr Kahura was a peddler of untruths,” said Mr Ondieki.

But Mr Mburu’s lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu urged the court to nullify the results.

“Witnesses have proved that Mr Waibara won the poll irregularly,” he said.

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