- Two voters filed a petition at the Embu High Court seeking annulment of the results of the Mbeere North by-election, citing differences in the identity of the winner
- The dispute is centered on Leo Wa Muthende Njeru of the UDA who used two different names, while one was not in the official voter register
- The complainants claim the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ignored the issue, raising questions about the legitimacy of the election.
A new legal dispute is emerging in the Mbeere North constituency after two voters went to the Embu High Court seeking the annulment of the results of the by-election in which the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Leo Wa Muthende Njeru was declared the MP for the area.
Source: Facebook
The petition, filed Monday, December 1, alleges the winning candidate used false identification, making the results illegal and unverifiable.
Who opposes the results of the Mbeere North by-election?
The voters, Julieta Karigi and Patrick Gitonga, want the court to nullify the November 27 by-election and order a new poll in the state.
They are also pressing for the issue to be heard quickly, saying that the alleged defects affect the legitimacy of their representation in Parliament.
“I have a legitimate concern that I will be represented…by someone who has not followed the law regarding the filing of information in election records,” one plaintiff says.
The heart of the dispute is the name of the new member of parliament, while the plaintiffs say that the person declared the winner entered the race with two different identities.
According to the petition, one of those names does not appear anywhere in the official register of voters, insisting that it contradicts the requirements in the Constitution.
In the documents submitted to the court, the candidate of UDA he renounced his former name Leonard Muriuki Njeru through a referendum on September 3, 2024, and took the name Leo Wa Muthende Njeru.
His name change was later published under Gazette Notice No. 13575.
However, the petitioners say that even after assuming a new identity, the UDA MP still submitted nomination papers under his old name.
They say in their petition that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) accepted these documents without addressing the discrepancy.
What was Wa Muthende’s name in the KIEMS device?
According to the two, the KIEMS polling station used on polling day continued to recognize him under his old name, despite the polling station being legal.
“On the day of voting, the KIEMS device identified the first defendant under the name he had already legally abandoned,” reads the court document.
Voters say this led to a situation where Leo Wa Muthende Njeru was on the ballot, but the only name in the voter register remains Leonard Muriuki Njeru, a name he had rejected.
“The first respondent was declared the winner of the Mbeere North by-election under the name Leo Wa Muthende Njeru which does not appear in the register of voters. The only name registered in the register of voters is Leonard Muriuki Njeru, which the respondent had previously denied,” the voters said.
Source: Twitter
According to them, no person can be duly nominated or elected under a name which does not appear in the list.
In their affidavit, they say that this controversy directly affected the integrity of the by-election, stressing that the law requires every parliamentary candidate to be a duly registered voter under his correct legal identity.
For them, the problem goes beyond the clerical issue, describing it as a flaw big enough to make the entire process “illegal, null and void.”
“The declaration of the first respondent as the winner under a name not registered in the electoral roll renders the election results illegal, null and void,” they claim.
They sue IEBC and Mbeere North election officer John Mwii Kinyua for failing to follow the Constitution and allowing a candidate with two incompatible identities to contest.
Wa Muthende emerged as the winner with 15,802 votes, defeating DP’s popular Newton Kariuki Karish, who got 15,308 votes.
Why did the opposition oppose the victory of the UDA?
In a related report, leaders from the Kenyan opposition rejected the results of the recent by-elections in Mbeere North and Malava. They said that the victory of the ruling UDA party did not reflect the wishes of the people.
In the case of Martha Karua and Kalonzo Musyokathe poll exposed serious flaws in the electoral system and signaled a return to the “dark days” of rigged votes.
At the same time, the UDA and its leadership pointed to the victory as proof that voters prefer development to divisive politics.
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