Resolving Disputes from the 2013 Elections in Kenya and the Emerging Jurisprudence
requirement of sufficient cause must still be fulfilled. To be heard before the
hearing commences, a cursory glance at the pleadings, especially the affidavit
in support of the petition or the application for scrutiny, should clearly and
precisely make out the petitioner’s case for scrutiny.133 Such an affidavit
must be sworn by a credible witness who should depose to the grounds for
this belief, for instance, that invalid votes were counted or valid ones were
improperly rejected, if that is the allegation in the petition, or any other reason
why the conduct of the election in question was believed flawed. Even in cases
of narrow margins of victory where applications for scrutiny are normally
heard before the hearing commences, it must be clear from the pleadings that
the counting was flawed.
In all other cases, the petitioner has to lay a foundation for an order of scrutiny
by adducing sufficient and credible evidence to show the need for scrutiny.
He has to prove that the irregularities or malpractices complained of were so
widespread, or so pervasive that they affected the final tally of the votes134 or
those they ultimately substantially and materially affected the result of the
election. 135 There are several cases where this threshold was met and scrutiny
was granted.
In Richard Kalembe Ndile v. Patrick Musimba Mweu,136 where sufficient
evidence of, inter alia, alterations and errors in Forms 35 and 36 which affected
the result of the election was adduced, the court had no difficult granting the
petitioner’s application and ordering a scrutiny of the election materials in all
the 164 polling stations in Kibwezi West constituency. Similarly, in Hassan
Abdalla Albeity v Abu Mohamed Abu Chiaba & another,137 in which the
authenticity of the forms used was in issue, the court granted a similar order
for scrutiny of the entire Lamu County. In Dickson Daniel Karaba v. John
Ngata Kariuki & 2 Others138 where, under cross-examination, the Returning
Officer conceded that he had wrongly tallied the votes from various polling
stations and as a result declared the respondent, instead of the petitioner, as
the winner, the court ordered a scrutiny that confirmed that evidence and
voided the election. Further, in William Maina Kamanda v. Margaret Wanjiru
133 See Philip Osore Ogutu vs Michael Aringo & 2 Others Busia High Court Election Petition No. 1 of 2013.
134 Philip Mungu Ndolo v Omar Mwinyi Shimbwa & 2 others, Mombasa High Court Election Petition Number 1
of 2013.
135 Hassan Mohamed Hassan & another v IEBC & 2 others, Garissa High Court Election Petition 6 of 2013.
136 Machakos High Court Election Petition No. 7 of 2013.
137 Malindi High Court Election Petition 9 of 2013.
138 [2014] 5 KLR (EP) 388.
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