Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi suffered a major setback after the court of appeal upheld the High Court’s decision to nullify his election.
Governor Abdi in his appeal had argued that the High Court ignored crucial evidence during the petition challenging his election as Governor.
Mr. Abdi through Senior Counsel Fred Ngatia said that the High Court misinterpreted laws and bypassed key evidence before invalidating his election on January 12.
Lawyer Ngatia said that Justice Alfred Mabeya in his ruling focused on unsubstantiated claims that the governor lacked a valid university degree.
Justice Mabeya in his ruling said that the Jubilee governor was not legally cleared to contest for the seat in the August 8, 2017, General Election.
The Judge further ruled that Mr. Abdi did not have a valid undergraduate degree certificate and that the election was marred by irregularities.
Justice Philip Waki, Milton Makhandia and Patrick Kiage in their ruling on Friday said that Justice Mabeya did not commit any legal error in nullifying Mr. Abdi’s 2017 election.
The three appellate judges ruled that Mr. Abdi failed to provide evidence before Justice Mabeya to dispel claims of lacking a valid undergraduate degree certificate adding that he also did not want to be cross-examined on the issue.
“The learned judge cannot be blamed because a prima facie case has been established before him. The evidential burden of proof shifted to the appellant who gave the witness box a wide berth,” ruled the judges as quoted by Daily Nation.