Electoral Commission (EC) has declared independent candidate, Geoffrey Wandera as the duly elected Busia district chairperson after he won the election unoppossed.
The decission by EC was reached after the two independents that had remained in the race, Tonny Ojambo and Chrispus Bwire pulled out.
“We received notification from the two candidates willingfully bowing out of the race and according to the provisions of the law, we had to declare Mr. Wandera as the new Busia LC V chairperson,” said the new Busia district returning officer, Umar Kiyimba.
“I hereby declare Geoffrey Wandera as elected unopposed Busia district LC V chairperson being the only remaining candidate following the cancellation of the nomination of NRM’s Paul Boniface Oguttu and DP’s Deogratius Hasubi Njoki and the deliberate withdrawal of the candidature of Ojambo and Bwire,” Kiyimba noted.
It is not yet clear what caused Ojambo and Bwire to withdraw their candidature.
The decision came before the DP candidate, Deo Njoki had filed an appeal in court, against the decision by the Electoral Commission last week nullifying his candidature.
Last week, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Justice Simon Byabakama announced that both Njoki and the NRM candidate, Paul Oguttu Boniface in the election had been disqualified due to inconsistencies in their names.
Byabakama said that the names presented in the nomination papers were different from those in the national voters’ register for both Njoki and Oguttu.
Busia district was scheduled to go to polls on Wednesday November 28 but the latest developments have rendered the exercise unnecessary.
