Supreme Court upholds election of Migori Governor Okoth Obado

MIGORI, KENYA: Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Okoth Obado’s win as the Migori County governor in a unanimous decision.

Judges faulted Court of Appeal for engaging in a fishing expedition when they allowed pleadings that were never sought at trial court.

They said voters scrutiny and re-tallying should not be used as a fishing expedition but a tool to verify results where there were counting errors in specified polling stations.

Obado’s win was nullified in March by Court of Appeal sitting in Kisumu. The court said massive irregularities attributed to human error by IEBC was no excuse to warrant Obado being declared the winner in last year’s election.

The governor then lodged an appeal at the Supreme Court in Nairobi in April.

He got a reprieve when Justice Mohamed Warsame granted him conservatory orders. The respondents, Edward Akong’o and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), strongly opposed the application.