Double Tragedy as Court Nullifies Election of Another ODM MP

ODM Party has suffered yet another blow after a High Court in Malindi nullified the election of Magarini MP Harrison Garama Kombe.

Kombe was elected on an ODM party ticket

The court ruled on Friday that there were massive irregularities during the election warranting the nullification.

UDA candidate Stanley Kenga filed a petition challenging Garama's win.

The judge noted that allegations of ballot stuffing, reduction and interchanging of results in favour of the winner declared by IEBC were proved by the petitioner.

This is not the first time Kombe's election win is being nullified.

His victory was also nullified in 2007. Then, he had been elected MP through his Shirikisho Party in 2002.

In 2007, appellate judges Emmanuel O'Kubasu, Onyango Otieno and William Deverell ruled that there were irregularities in the election of Mr Kombe on December 27, 2002.

He would later lose in the ensuing by-election to the then-youthful and Raila-backed Amason Kingi of the ODM party.

Kombe went back to teaching until 2013 when he recaptured the seat on an ODM ticket.

The Fiday's nullification of his win came on the very day Lagdera MP Abdikadir Hussein suffered a similar fate.

Abdikadir was declared the winner by the IEBC after bagging 5,939 votes beating three other opponents.

They include Abdiqani Zeitun who got 4,863 votes and the then-incumbent Mohamed Hire of Kanu who was third with 3,277 votes.

Abdikadir was the only MP elected on the ODM party ticket in Garissa county.