{"id":15742,"date":"2020-10-11T20:13:22","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T20:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=15742"},"modified":"2020-10-11T20:13:22","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T20:13:22","slug":"epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat","title":{"rendered":"Epic battle: Waibara\u2019s quest to regain seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author:\u00a0WAINAINA NDUNG\u2019U\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> High Court judge Weldon Korir\u2019s verdict that saw Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe lose her seat\u00a0capped a three-year legal onslaught by former lawmaker Clement Kung\u2019u Waibara to dislodge Kiambu County\u2019s only woman legislator.<\/p>\n

By this, Waibara did what his predecessor Patrick Muiruri failed. Mr Muiruri, who was also an assistant minister, launched an unsuccessful\u00a0petition\u00a0to have Waibara\u2019s victory following his election in 2013, nullified.<\/p>\n

Waibara first tried to end Kibe\u2019s career through an election petition that failed at the High Court, succeeded at the Court of Appeal and again flopped at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Later, Waibara who had garnered 9,390 votes against Kibe\u2019s 39,447, filed a fresh case at the High Court, this time, arguing she had not vacated her seat as a nominated MCA in Kiambu county assembly by the time she won the Jubilee Party nomination in 2017.<\/p>\n

Justice Korir was in agreement with Mr Waibara saying he was convinced that an MCA, as State officer, should resign before being nominated for a parliamentary or presidential seat.<\/p>\n

While issuing his ruling, Justice Korir said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission should consequently organise a\u00a0by-election in the constituency\u00a0within 90 days, giving Waibara another chance to go for the seat.<\/p>\n

When Waibara won the seat in the 2007 elections, residents said he presented the face of change. He was 36 and Muiruri was in his 60s.<\/p>\n

During his campaigns, Waibara\u2019s symbol was a toddler in a mother\u2019s arms. He promised to be as transparent as possible with residents able to monitor his every move.<\/p>\n

However, he had hardly settled in office when he started battling a petition lodged by Muiruri, who succeeded at the High Court but lost at the\u00a0Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

High Court judge Fred Ochieng ruled in Muiruri\u2019s favour and declared the seat vacant before the Court of Appeal reinstated Waibara.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the High Court saying the judge failed to consider the nature of the evidence presented before court while nullifying Waibara\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

In one of the grounds upon which Muiruri had sought to have Waibara removed, was that he was not sufficiently proficient in national languages to enable him take part in parliamentary proceedings.<\/p>\n

One Martin Ndung\u2019u claimed, on oath, that he had taken proficiency exams on behalf of Waibara.<\/p>\n

At some point, Muiruri\u2019s lawyer gave the youthful MP a newspaper cutting to read out in court. Waibara\u2019s fumbling prompted the judge to quip; \u201cthe point had been made.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2011, Waibara would start battling another case in court over allegations of conspiracy to kill businessman Bernard Chege Mburu between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011 in Thika Town.<\/p>\n

Court papers alleged that Waibara jointly, with others not before court, conspired to kill Mburu, who sold car tyres after he allegedly reneged on a promise to withdraw an election petition against him.<\/p>\n

It was not until October 2014 that the former MP was acquitted of the charges.<\/p>\n

Waibara lost during the 2013 elections to Kigo Njenga, who would serve for one term.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe case was a major determinant of my performance. I had to drive to Nyeri every two weeks and retain a lawyer throughout my parliamentary tenure,\u201d Waibara said after he was acquitted by Nyeri Senior Resident Magistrate Joan Wambilianga.<\/p>\n

The magistrate said the evidence by seven prosecution witnesses was not enough to secure a conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat comes out is that there was a grudge between the accused and the complainant borne out of the 2007 elections which lead to a petition,\u201d said the magistrate.<\/p>\n

Ms Wambilianga also took a swipe at the prosecution for failing to prove there was conspiracy to kill. The magistrate observed that the prosecution abandoned all evidence that could have assisted the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prosecution case was weak, had gaps and the benefit of doubt is given to the accused,\u201d said the magistrate.<\/p>\n

Generally known<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gatundu North is generally known as Mang\u2019u but has failed get away from the larger Gatundu area associated with the first president Jomo Kenyatta and his son President Uhuru Kenyatta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main problem with Gatundu North is that it has failed to wean itself off the Gatundu tag and its politics is many a times influenced from Thika and Gatundu South,\u201d said ODM Kiambu secretary Charles Mbugua.<\/p>\n

Waibara won in 2007 by employing a campaign strategy which involved distribution of thousands of blankets, mostly to women.<\/p>\n

Many residents felt Waibara had the vibrancy needed to revolutionalise the constituency\u2019s leadership and the general way of doing things.<\/p>\n

Many will be waiting to see if Waibara will beat\u00a0Ms Kibe\u00a0in the likely fresh contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author:\u00a0WAINAINA NDUNG\u2019U\u00a0 AfricaPress-Kenya: High Court judge Weldon Korir\u2019s verdict that saw Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe lose her seat\u00a0capped a three-year legal onslaught by former lawmaker Clement Kung\u2019u Waibara to dislodge Kiambu County\u2019s only woman legislator. By this, Waibara did what his predecessor Patrick Muiruri failed. Mr Muiruri, who was also an assistant minister, launched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":15735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[6029,6031,6030],"class_list":["post-15742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-clement-kungu-waibara","tag-wanjiku-kibe","tag-weldon-korir"],"yoast_head":"\nEpic battle: Waibara\u2019s quest to regain seat - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"High Court judge Weldon Korir\u2019s verdict that saw Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe lose her seat\u00a0capped a three-year legal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Epic battle: Waibara\u2019s quest to regain seat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"High Court judge Weldon Korir\u2019s verdict that saw Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe lose her seat\u00a0capped a three-year legal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-11T20:13:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/10\/epic_battle_waibara5f8203bdea495.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"532\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Epic battle: Waibara\u2019s quest to regain seat\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-11T20:13:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat\"},\"wordCount\":782,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/10\/epic_battle_waibara5f8203bdea495.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Clement Kung\u2019u Waibara\",\"Wanjiku Kibe\",\"Weldon Korir\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/epic-battle-waibaras-quest-to-regain-seat\",\"name\":\"Epic battle: Waibara\u2019s quest to regain seat - 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