Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua’s 2022 presidential bid is in limbo.
This is according to political analyst, Peter Ngure.
Ngure argues that the Court of Appeal's ruling that nullified Mutua’s re-election on Friday is a setback to his 2022's presidential ambition.
The Kiambu based political pundit said Mutua has a huge task of convincing the Supreme Court that indeed he won his re-election in last year’s general election in case he decides to appeal.
Ngure said Mutua must quickly go back to the drawing board in order to salvage his 2022 presidential ambition.
“It is a big setback to him especially in his plans to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022,” Ngure said on Friday.
The analyst said Machakos could be headed for a fresh gubernatorial election.
He said there is a likelihood of the Supreme Court dismissing Mutua’s petition if he decides to appeal the Court of Appeal's ruling.
“The Court of Appeal raised matters touching on constitutionality and validity of the vote which Governor Mutua and IEBC must demonstrate that were adhered to,”Ngure said.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal judge William Ouko nullified Mutua’s re-election on grounds that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) failed to conduct free and fair gubernatorial election.
In his ruling, the Judge said the results announced by the IEBC's returning officer could not be verified and failed the constitutional test.
The judge also ordered governor Mutua and the IEBC to pay the cost of the appeal petition that had been filed by Wavinya Ndeti.
In February, Machakos High court Judge Aggrey Muchelule had upheld Mutua’s re-election.
In his ruling then, Muchelule said that Wavinya Ndeti had failed to provide sufficient evidence to nullify Mutua’s re-election.
The judge had ruled that Mutua was validly elected and slapped Wavinya Ndeti with a Sh10 Million fine as a cost for the suit.