Homa Bay faces uncertainty as Awiti loses seat

Homa Bay County is either headed for another round of gruelling election campaigns or a third round of legal battle at the Supreme Court.

That choice will be made by Cyprian Awiti after the Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the High Court decision that had quashed his election as Homa Bay governor. His lawyer James Orengo asked the court to furnish the defence team with entire 120-page judgment as soon as possible to guide their next course of action.

Whichever way the upheaval plays out, the uncertainty that has hung over the county's political leadership is set to last longer, with negative impact on development. The county's ward representatives are already battling claims that they had to be bribed to pass the 2018/19 budget.

In the judgement unveilved in Kisumu on Thursday, the second highest court in the land upheld a High Court ruling that had established that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) did not conduct a free and fair election when Mr Awiti romped to the office last year to start serving his second term.

The case had been filed by the governor’s main challenger in the 2017 General Election Oyugi Magwanga who ran as an independent candidate.

“The judgment delivered in Homa Bay High Court is confirmed and upheld in its entirety,” said Justice Fatuma Sichale, who read the judgment on behalf of a three-judge bench. The court of appeal found that the election was marred with irregularities. In February, Homa Bay High Court Judge Justice Joseph Karanja ordered fresh elections after he faulted the electoral agency IEBC for conducting the poll shoddily.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal found that there were irregularities committed, especially in the statutory documents.

“Votes declared in polling stations did not tally the ones at the tallying centre,” said Justice Sichale.

The Court of Appeal, however, found that the High Court had erred in subjecting the appellants to pay excessive costs. She reduced it from Sh6 million to Sh5 million.

Mr Awiti will pay Sh2 million while the IEBC will pay Sh3million to Mr Magwanga as litigation costs.

The appellate court also ruled that despite a recount indicating the Mr Magwanga and his running mate had garnered higher number of votes, they were not declared duly elected “because a scrutiny and recount is not an end in themselves.”

Despite the appellate court finding many errors in the trial court’s judgment, it went ahead and nullified Mr Awiti’s victory.

The court found that the trial judge erred in holding generally that there were several alterations of results in statutory forms.

It also found that Homa Bay High Court Judge erred in law by failing to mention the scrutiny, recount report and ignoring its contents.