Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho takes oath of office during his inauguration ceremony. [Photo: Hassan Joho/ facebook.com]
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has moved to court to block a petition filed against him by his opponent, former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar.Through his lawyer Mohammed Balala, Joho on Wednesday argued that Omar doesn’t have any valid evidence to challenge his win in the August polls, and should thus not distract him in the execution of his duties as the Mombasa County chief.Balala further argued that Omar’s call for fresh polls was invalid as the petition did not enjoin Deputy Governor William Kingi, The Star reports.This comes after Omar filed a petition at the Mombasa High Court seeking the nullification of Joho’s re-election.The former Wiper Party secretary general argued that the Mombasa gubernatorial election was marred by massive irregularities and voter bribery.“Mombasa is headed for a second round of the governorship race, there were no elections in the county as the polls were marred by irregularities,” said Omar.Omar who was third in the race, said Joho was not validly elected and appealed to the court to declare the results invalid.
Omar is expected to respond in 14 days.