RUTO BLOCKED AT NYAMARAMBE

There was drama at Nyamarambe Grounds when a chopper carrying Higher Education Minister William Ruto, MPs Mithika Linturi, Charles Keter and PDP candidate Omingo Magara were blocked from landing moments after Prime Minister Raila Odinga had left the venue.

The politicians arrived 30 ministers after the Prime Minister and his ODM entourage had left for another rally.

Residents forced the chopper to stay aloft for more than 20 minutes as anti-riots police were quickly called in to disperse the crowd.

Attempts by the pilot at one point to land even as the crowd stayed put were futile with some locals throwing stones and crude weapons forcing it to take off.

It then hovered around for over 10 minutes and made a detour and attempted to land but the hostile crowd repulsed it once again by throwing stones at it.

Education minister Sam Ongeri and Nyaribari Chache MP Robert Monda who arrived 30 minutes earlier to campaign for Magara stayed put in their vehicles amid tight security.

After landing, police escorted Ruto to the dais and was ushered in by Ongeri to address the crowd.

Nyamarambe was the same venue where in the run up to 2007 General Election Magara and Ruto escaped death after goons attacked them.

Not succeed

Ruto condemned the incident and accused their opponents of sponsoring youth to hurl stones and insults at them. He called for calm and said attempts to scuttle their campaigns would not succeed.

Meanwhile, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) is investigating claims politicians were flouting the Political Parties Act by campaigning for candidates of rival parties in South Mugirango.

"We have launched investigation into claims that some politicians have openly campaigned for candidates of other parties. Culprits will face action," said the chairman.

He said the probe was launched following official protest received from ODM that some PNU members were campaigning for the PDP candidate Omingo Magara.