Makwere leads tight race in Matuga

Former MP Chirau Ali Mwakwere was in an early lead for the Matuga parliamentary by-election, with sixty per cent of the votes already counted.

With results in 68 out of 101 polling stations, Mr Mwakwere (Party of National Unity, PNU) was having 11,609, votes against Orange Democratic Movement Hassan Mwanyoha's 8,849 votes, and Kassim Tandaza of United Democratic Movement with 1,732. Candidate Isaac Mutula of the Liberal Party of Kenya had 82 votes.

The results were being transmitted electronically from the polling centres to a tallying centre in Nairobi's Lilian towers.

Voting in the hotly contested race had gone on from early morning until 6pm on the day, an exercise that threatened to degenerate into chaos.

Campaigns for the seat, which fell vacant after Chirau Ali Mwakwere’s election was nullified, had been largely peaceful.

However, things exploded on the eve of the voting when the councillor was shot in the leg and his colleagues beaten up by an unknown group as they travelled in the constituency.

The early morning shooting occurred at Kombani, a junction on the Mombasa- Lunga Lunga road.

A four-wheel drive vehicle in which Mr Peter Ponda, the former Malindi County Council chairman and four others were travelling, was set ablaze in the 2am attack.

Suffered injuries

The others were councillors Ms Fatuma Chisumo (nominated, Kwale), Mohammed Tumbo (Kinango ward) and Msambweni businessman Michael Mutua. They suffered injuries and were being treated at Palm Beach Hospital in Diani.

Mr Michael Kitaa, alias Kalonzo Junior, is still missing, according to Mr Ponda who spoke to journalists from his hospital bed.

Kwale police boss Richard Muguai said investigations had been launched into the matter, but the attackers and their motive were yet to be established.

The attack, however, did not dampen the mood in the constituency, as hundreds of voters streamed to polling centres from as early as 5am, armed with their national identity and voting cards, ready to cast their ballots.

Candidates in the race voted in their strongholds.

Mr Isaac Mutula of the Liberal Party of Kenya cast his ballot at Kichakasimba Primary School in Shimba Hills at 9.55am.

His rivals Kassim Tandaza of United Democratic Movement voted at Iqra nursery school in Tsimba; Mr Hassan Mwanyoha of Orange Democratic Movement at Vunani Primary School in Tiwi at 7.15am while former Transport minister Mwakwere of Party of National Unity voted at Ziwani Primary School at 9.20am.

Mr Mwakwere later caused a scene at Kombani polling station following a disagreement with the presiding officer after the latter allegedly blocked him from entering the centre.

Right to visit

Mr Mwakwere refused to budge, insisting it was his right to visit any polling station. His action caused a furore as voters who were waiting to cast their ballot outside began screaming, demanding that he leaves.

As the situation threatened to get out of hand, police officers called in reinforcements, including their boss Mr Muguai, as the presiding officers stopped the voting.

As the row that lasted nearly half an hour persisted, Mr Mwanyoha arrived and demanded to know why Mr Mwakwere was causing a delay in the voting.

It took the intervention of an Interim Independent Electoral commissioner, Mr David Chirchir and Mr Muguai to pacify the politicians and get them out of the polling station. Voting resumed shortly afterwards.

Kombani station is being closely watched by the two main combatants as a dispute over its results in the December 2007 parliamentary elections formed the basis of the petition that led to the nullification of Mr Mwakwere’s election.

The High Court in Mombasa found that results from two streams of the polling station were not included in the final tally. Had the results been included, Mr Mwanyoha would have won, the court ruled.

Voting in most of the 101 polling stations continued without any incidents, having started between 6am and 7am.

According to IIEC commissioner Winnie Guchu, 17 polling stations started voting at 6am; 81 between 6am and 6.30am while the remaining three opened their doors shortly before 7am.

In an interview with the Nation at the Matuga Government Training Institute, the main tallying centre, Ms Guchu termed the voter turnout as encouraging, having passed the 50 per cent mark by noon.

However, the afternoon turnout was not expected to be big because many voters preferred casting their ballots in the morning, she said.

The commissioner decried what she termed increasing cases of voters, some of them obviously literate, seeking assistance to cast their ballots, saying the process could easily be abused.

“We need to do something about this... You never know, it could be a way through which they want to confirm to party agents that they voted for their candidate, for whatever reason.”

Voters are only assisted to fill in the ballot if they are illiterate. However, the assistance has to be monitored by both the presiding officers and party agents, to avoid cheating.