Reprieve for Wetang’ula as court rules he can contest senatorial seat

By DANIEL PSIRMOI

Former Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula can now breath a sigh of relief after a High Court judge, who invalidated his election, clarified that the Ford Kenya leader can contest the by-elections.

Former Local Government minister Musikari Kombo, through his Lawyer Alfred Ndambiri, had filed an application before the court in Bungoma, challenging the orders Mr Wetang’ula used to file an appeal against the court ruling that nullified his election.

Mr Kombo argued that the orders used by Wetang’ula in appealing against his invalidation in the Court of Appeal had omitted a court decree barring Wetang’ula from contesting elections for at least five years.

In a suit that he filed challenging the appeal lodged by Wetang’ula, Kombo urged the court to find the orders erroneous and selective. But yesterday, Justice Francis Gikonyo said he did not issue orders barring Wetang’ula from contesting in the by-elections.

“To set the record straight and for purposes of clarity, I did not, in my judgment delivered on September 30, on the petition filed by Musikari Kombo, bar Moses Wetang’ula from contesting in an elective seat now or in the future or in the forthcoming by-election,” said Gikonyo.