MCA dismisses claim of seeking sorcerer's help to win poll

A video that purports to show Olpusimoru Ward MCA Kikayet ole Kuyo taking part in a ritual to guarantee his election victory is played in a Narok court on November 13, 2017. PHOTO | GEORGE SAYAGIE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Mwongela told Mr Gesora he ordered the MCA to spread the monkey’s intestines in four key polling stations.
  • The witness said he decided to testify against his client after he reneged on a Sh500,000 fee.

A confessed sorcerer produced video footage in a Narok court in a bid to prove that he aided a local leader to win an election.

Mr Robert Mwongela from Nzambai village in Kitui County was testifying in a petition against the election of Olpusimoru Ward MCA Kikayet ole Kuyo on an ODM ticket in the August 8 General Election.

It was filed by Jubilee Party’s William ole Masikonte, a former majority leader in the Narok County Assembly who lost in the election.

RITUAL
Mr Mwongela claimed to have performed rituals that confused Mr Masikonte’s supporters.

Mr Kuyo’s lawyers, however, questioned the authenticity of the footage and the witnesses’ testimony.

The video shows a man slaughtering a colobus monkey as he performs rituals near a fire then tying the animal’s skin around the waist of another who is partly naked.

POLLING STATIONS
Appearing before Narok High Court Deputy Registrar Tito Gesora, defence lawyer Amos Rotich argued:

"The footage is not clearly showing who the person Mr Mwongela says is my client is.

"We are just seeing a bare back; we have not seen his face and we cannot depend on hearsay."

He further questioned the dates when the alleged ritual was performed and how the wizard travelled all the way, further stating that his client did not know the man.

Cross-examined by lawyer Karanja Mbugua for the petitioner on Monday, Mr Mwongela told Mr Gesora he ordered the MCA to spread the monkey’s intestines in four key polling stations.

CAST SPELL
The witness said he decided to testify against his client after he reneged on a Sh500,000 fee after the "job" was done.

Mr Mwongela shocked the court with a claim that he ordered the blood of the animal spilled at Mr Masikonte’s gate in Ilkiai village, Narok North, 20 kilometres away to cast a spell on him.

That made a lorry ferrying Mr Masikonte’s supporters to mysteriously overturn, injuring seven of them, with some admitted to hospital, he further claimed.

POLL PETITION
In Nyeri County, a man challenging the election of Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua has denied claims of copy-pasting a petition.

Mr Michael Gichuru denied the MP’s claim that his petition was a replica of the one filed by Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga in the Supreme Court challenging the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 8.

Through lawyer Wahome Gikonyo, the MP had questioned the assertion by Mr Gichuru that transmission of election results for MP from polling stations to the constituency tallying centre ought to have been electronic.

VOTES

Elsewhere, a senior electoral officer failed to explain widespread variances of election results in Forms 35A and polling station diaries (PSDs).

The returning officer at Changamwe Constituency, Mombasa, in the August 8 poll could not explain extra votes in Forms 34A.

Under cross-examination by lawyer Gikandi Ngibuini for petitioner Mahmoud Mohamed Ali, Mrs Aisha Abubakar told Justice Njoki Mwangi that only presiding officers could explain the discrepancies.

The petition, challenging Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi’s victory, was filed by former nominated Mombasa councillor Mahmoud Mohamed Ali.

ILLEGAL VOTER
Separately, Justice Mwangi stopped Mr Ngibuini from mentioning Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho and his brother Abu Joho as having compromised electoral officers in Changamwe on August 8.

Also in Mombasa, Justice Eric Ogola rejected former Likoni MP Masoud Mwahima’s bid by his witness to produce photographic evidence in a petition against Ms Mishi Mboko’s election victory.

In Busia County, Justice Waweru Kiarie of the High Court ordered the arrest of a man who voted in the August 8 election unlawfully.

Mr Moses Khasede confessed to being a Ugandan but obtained a Kenyan ID, which had no signature while his Ugandan papers had errors.

He is a witness in a case by two petitioners challenging the election of Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala.

Reports by George Sayagie, Galgalo Bocha, Henry Nyarora, Philip Muyanga, Gaitano Pesa and Joseph Wangui