With only one day remaining before Kibra people throng to the ballot to elect their next MP, ODM party has found itself on the spot after its candidate in the constituency, Imran Okoth was accused of bribing voters.
In a video shared online, irritated youths are seen lighting tyres on Tuesday evening, while lamenting how the candidate was going around at night donating Unga plus Sh1000 each to voters in Kibra.
The same grievance was aired by the Kapreset MP Oscar Sudi who wondered why the candidate was busy bribing voters under the protection of police officers despite the electoral laws against voter bribery being clear.
The legislator through his Facebook page urged the IEBC and law enforcers to take action against Imran saying that the campaign period had ended on Monday evening.
“What happened to our electoral laws?… Why is IEBC and Kenyan Police not responsible?… Imran Okoth is donating Unga plus 1000/- each to voters in Kibra under the protection of police officers. Action MUST be taken promptly,” lamented Sudi.
This is unacceptable at all. imran is bribing voters with Unga and she. 1000
Posted by Mca Tony Bidii on Tuesday, 5 November 2019
Even as Imran’s claims emerge, Jubilee candidate McDonald Mariga also found himself on the spot after it was alleged he visited the Laini Saba Mosque to campaign and to do what the law classifies as illegal; bribery of voters after the official campaign period.
The electoral commission, IEBC has come under attacks after it failed to act when some candidates had their rallies violently disrupted due to chaos.
The commission also failed to act when supporters of a certain candidate were allegedly attacked and injured by ODM supporters.
Despite all the voter bribery allegations in the constituency, the ODM party, through its Director of Communications Philip Etale has warned the Jubilee party against any attempts to manipulate the Kibra mini poll results.
While addressing Statehouse Digital Director Dennis Itumbi on Tuesday, Etale warned that people planning to rig out ODM candidate Imran Okoth should not even dare.
“ODM will win. Your bad manners of election rigging won’t suffice in Kibra. Mtaona cha Mtema Kuni (You will suffer the wrath) posted Etale on Facebook.
He was responding to Itumbi’s mocking comments to Siaya Senator James Orengo who was in court arguing that IEBC gave a voter register without ID Numbers in Kibra.
According to Itumbi, ODM had sensed defeat and was looking for a classical way of rejecting election results ahead of time.