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| Nyamira governor John Nyagarama |
Nyamira governor John Nyagarama yesterday suffered a major setback when Nyamira High Court granted orders for the scrutiny and re-count of votes in 90 out of 533 polling stations in the county.
The orders were granted following a successful application by Walter Nyambati through his lawyer Kennedy Nyaencha in a petition he is challenging legitimacy of the governor’s win in the August 8 General Election.
In his sworn affidavit, he pleaded for a re-count in 46 polling stations he claimed recorded a higher voter turnout than listed and another re-count in 13 polling stations he said declared less votes than the actual turnout.
He also wanted a scrutiny of the discrepancies between forms 37A, 37B and 37C for Nyambati in 16 polling stations. However, both the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and Nyagarama opposed the scrutiny and re-count but lost after the judge said they did not raise enough evidence to justify their case.
Justice James Makau further directed that the scrutiny be done before December 13 in Nyamira High Court under the supervision of the deputy registrar and two agents from the three parties involved in the petition.
He also directed Nyamira OCS to provide maximum security during the exercise. Governor Nyagarama was declared winner after he garnered 63,949 against Jubilee Party’s Nyambati who came second with 58,936 votes.