Former LSK chairman Eric Mutua floored in Wiper nominations

Former Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua has lost to a former permanent secretary in the battle for the Mwingi Central Wiper parliamentary ticket.

However, Mr Mutua, who garnered 3,587 votes against former Housing and Public works PS Gideon Mulyungi's 11,676, dismissed the nominations as a sham.

Addressing journalists in Mwingi town yesterday after the announcement, Mutua said most voters from Nuu and Mui wards did not vote as ballot papers arrived late.

"The election in Mwingi Central Constituency was a total sham and a big joke. The Wiper national elections board should not even wait for me to petition but it should nullify the purported results and call for a repeat exercise," Mutua said.

The lawyer claimed most presiding officers were "picked from the streets" on the election day, "opening the possibility for manipulation and vote rigging". Mutua added that should the board fail to cancel the results, he would move to court.

"We have remedies for this sham election. One of them is to move to court and seek nullification of the entire results and that means Wiper will not have a candidate in the constituency. Both Mulyungi and myself will contest as independent candidates," he said.

Mr Mulyungi however laughed off the threats and challenged Mutua to petition "even in heaven".

"You know Eric thinks he is the only clever lawyer around, let him know that even my wife is a serious lawyer. We will counter his petition and stop him in his tracks," he said.