Kericho Governor Eric Mutai pleaded “not guilty” to all three impeachment grounds as his trial commenced in the Senate on Wednesday, August 27. The proceedings quickly focused on the validity of the electronic vote taken by the County Assembly MCAs on August 15.

• Mutai’s legal team argued the electronic voting system was new, unproven, and resulted in irregularities, including four MCAs voting while absent and three MCAs voting twice.
• The County Assembly’s legal team, led by impeachment lawyer Elisha Ongoya, defended the system as tamper-proof and technologically advanced, attributing discrepancies to printing errors.
• The County Assembly needs to demonstrate that 32 MCAs voted for impeachment, surpassing the two-thirds threshold.