Former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar when he testified in a petition against Joho on Monday. [Photo/ mambokenya.com]
Former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar has suffered a major blow after seven of his witnesses in a petition against Governor Hassan Joho were rejected by the Mombasa High Court.Omar, who defected from Wiper to Jubilee, had lined up 19 witnesses in the petition challenging Joho’s win in the August 8 general election. In her ruling on Thursday, Judge Lydia Achode said the seven were dropped since the information they presented in court was collected from third parties.The judge further said that the evidence presented by Omar would be thrown out if it fails to meet the court’s threshold.Justice Achode also said the form 37C presented in court by Omar could not be used in the case since it lacked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) stamp. Joho on his part has maintained that he has no case to answer. Through his lawyer Dennis Mosota, the county boss asked the court to quash the petition against him.The defence argued that the former senator failed to adhere to the witness rules and evidence requirements.Mosota told the court that it is hard to substantiate whether Omar had acquired the form from IEBC.In his defence, Omar said he had printed the form after IEBC gave him soft copies on a flash disk.Omar said the commission had asked for Sh8 million for it to print out the forms, The Star has reported.