After the 2017 general election, Silas Muriuki contested IEBC’s declaration of Rahim Dawood as the winner of the North Imenti parliamentary seat. Following a heated legal battle that stretched for several months, the Court upheld Rahim Dawood’s victory.
According to the official IEBC results, Dawood emerged the winner, having garnered a total of 29,042 votes against Muriuki’s 28,894.
Mr. Muriuki alleged electoral misconduct, stating that he had won the election but had his victory snatched by ‘corrupt and malicious elements’ in the IEBC. He therefore sued the electoral body and the North Imenti returning officer, and Mr. Dawood, arguing that they had collaborated in stealing his votes.
Court Proceedings
In his petition at the Meru High Court, Muriuki argued that his agents were harassed, and that IEBC officials colluded with Mr. Rahim to steal his victory.
Ruth Kinya Ikunyua, Muriuki’s agent at Nkabune Primary School argued that the results submitted at the tallying center could not be ascertained as correct as she didn’t sign form 35A, and she was not allowed to see and verify the forms.
On his part, Rahim submitted that Mr. Muriuki had made several attempts to disrupt the tallying process. Rahim argued that Muriuki ferried hundreds of his supporters to the tallying center and attempted to pull down the main gate while celebrating an imaginary victory long before the tallying process was concluded.
“The following day, Muriuki’s agent Nicholas Mugwiria Mugambi also known as Kibanga wanted to disrupt the tallying process. He even confronted the police officers at the tallying center. Consequently, he was taken away from the area to enable the tallying process to continue peacefully.” Rahim stated.
Hon. Rahim also alluded to alleged threats and caution to the Asian Community and the Kikuyu community in the event he was announced the winner of the elections in North Imenti.
According to Rahim, Mr. Muriuki had constantly threatened Kikuyus and Asians, especially those living Chugu – Nyaki West ward. The matter had been reported vide OB No. 11/11/08/2017.
Counting Losses
The High Court in Meru upheld Dawood’s victory and ordered Muriuki to pay Sh1 million each to IEBC, the returning officer and Mr. Dawood.
About five years later, Muriuki says the 2017 memories are still fresh in his mind, mainly due to the heavy losses he incurred.
Muriuki says in addition to the Sh3 million costs he was slapped with, he spent another Sh3 million in legal fees, all on top of the millions he spent in the campaigns.
“I lost trust in the judiciary. I lost trust in the IEBC. It hurts me to date.” he says.
Seeking Revenge?
The 73-year-old former teacher now concentrates on his dairy farming venture, though he insists that he has not retired from active politics.
Muriuki seems to have hatched a plan to ‘revenge’ against his rival, Mr. Rahim Dawood. His daughter, Carol Karimi Muriuki (popularly known as CK), is gunning for the North Imenti seat in this year’s election.
Initially, Karimi and Dawood were both seeking to vie through Governor Kiraitu Murungi’s newly formed Devolution Empowerment Party alias Mbus.
However, Rahim would later declare that he cannot go to the Mbus nominations, alleging a plan by the Party officials to rig him out of the race in favor of Carol Karimi.
Karimi will undoubtedly be seeking to leverage on her father’s connections apart from her own networks created during her grassroots empowerment projects.
She however insists that her entry into the race has nothing to do with her father’s hits and misses.
Meru Daily News is your one-stop trusted source for the latest News updates from Meru County, Tharaka Nithi and the larger Mt. Kenya region. Follow our Social Media Pages for real-time News Bytes.
