Mwakwere heading back to Cabinet

Mr Ali Chirau Mwakwere could be headed back to his yet to be occupied Cabinet office at Transcom House following his strong show at Matuga by-election. Last Monday he was leading by a margin of 3573 votes with 72 out of 101 polling stations tallied. Shoved aside by a court decision in February, Mwakwere who is President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity’s key plank in the Coastal region, led in the tallying process all the way. With his seat safely back in his pocket, Matuga residents can only wait and see if Kibaki would give Mwakwere back his seat — something that he used to fire up his campaigns.

Mwakwere was ahead of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement’s candidate with 12,498 against Mr Hassan Mwanyoha’s 8,925 votes. The ODM candidate Mr Hassan Mwanyoha who was billed to give the former Matuga MP a run for his money trailed Mwakwere by slightly over 3,500 votes right till 12.45am — with 29 polling stations pending. But it was from here that his margin widened.

By this time Mwakwere had won a total of 72 polling stations, while Mwanyoha led in only three. The surprise Mwakwere gave his critics put him on top and this morning it would be clear what margin he would have won with, given the pattern of victory reflected in the provisional results favoured him all the way.

The other two candidates in the race were far back in the race to represent Matuga between now and 2012 General Election.

Election nullified

The former Transport Minister whose election was nullified by court in February campaigned for re-election on the platform of continuity and promotion of Digo ‘nationalism’ and communal interest. He also spiced up his campaigns with a plea for re-election for the sake of retaining the ministerial flag, which he told voters had been reserved for him.

Apart from Mwanyoha, a former schoolteacher and civil servant born in 1955, and Mwakwere who is a retired diplomat and Kanu national official, others in the race were UDM’s Mr Kassim S. Tandaza and Mr Issack Mutula of the Labour Party of Kenya. Tandaza had 1,351 votes after the 56th polling station to be tallied while Mutula had only secured 69 votes.

The votes were being counted on site and relayed to the tallying centre using the new electronic technology Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) was testing in Matuga.

By 8:45 pm the results at the Lilian Towers IIEC tallying centre in Nairobi showed Mwakwere leading with 7,635 out of 45 polling stations whose results had been received.

Mwanyoha was still trailing in second position with 5,511, Tandaza was third with 1,016 while Mutula had received only 50 votes from the 45 polling stations.

Except for two isolated incidents of violence, the by-election was trouble free to the finish line. In the first case a former Malindi civic leader was shot and seriously injured by suspected political hirelings. In the second case, five people were roughed up and frisked on the night preceding elections. The attackers in top-of-the-range vehicles waylaid them as they drove to Ukunda from Kwale and burned their Subaru car.

The successful petition against Mwakwere was among five that have so far gone through, among them those against Mr Omingo Magara (ODM, South Mugirango), Mr Joel Onyancha (Bomachoge), Mr Dick Wathika (PNU, Makadara) and Mr George Thuo (PNU, Juja).

In the violence, Mr Peter Ponda Kadheza, a former Chairman of Kanu Malindi County Council was shot in the ribs at Kombani Village and was admitted at Palm Beach Hospital in Ukunda. The Mwakwere ally was still in hospital last night.

A nominated civic leader associated with PNU, Mr Eddy Kavoko from Kwale County Council was arrested over what police sources claimed was linked to attempts to bribe voters. Another activist identified as Mr Michael Kitaa was reported to be still at large after the incident.

Bullet lodged

Deputy Coast police boss Mr Henry Barmao said investigations were progressing on the violence. IIEC described the incidents as unfortunate, since the exercise had been largely peaceful. Commissioner Ms Winnie Guchu said two candidates were allowed to campaign side by side and all went well, and wondered why the violence broke out on voting day.

"The Matuga campaigns were the most successful, this is the only place where two different candidates campaigned side by side without violence and I do not understand why violence today," she said.

She reported that by yesterday afternoon, more than 50 per cent of the 41,734 registered voters had cast their ballots. "We hope that at the end of the day, we are going to have most people voting in Matuga, going by the information we have now," she said.

There was tension in Kombani when Mwakwere drove into the polling station and stayed inside, prompting Mwanyoha’s supporters to dash there and check out what he was up to. Polling started early across the 101 stations. Mr Ponda was left with a bullet lodged in his lower left leg after the attack early Monday morning.

Also injured in the attack was a nominated Kwale County Council councillor, Ms Fatuma Nkizumo, and a local businessman and PNU activist, Mr Michael Mutua. Kadzeha told The Standard their attackers pounced on them after blocking their vehicle.

"We were heading to Ukunda Town from Kwale to refuel when we suddenly saw several top-of-the-range vehicles in the middle of the road," said Ponda. He said a man came to his side of the car and slapped him on the face.

"Several of the attackers pounced onto the car and forcefully pulled us out. They rained blows and kicks on us, accusing us of having killed their supporter,’’ said Ponda who was with four other people in the car.

He was shot in the leg as he attempted to flee, and ended up in a ditch near an Administration police (AP) camp. Mutua was stabbed on his back and suffered face and head injuries, while Nkizumo suffered a broken rib. They all lost personal belongings. A vehicle in which the five were traveling, was reduced to a shell.

Kenya Human Rights Commission member, Mr Hassan Omar also termed the incident unfortunate. There was heavy police presence at the scene, with Kwale OCPD Richard Muguai leading police patrols. Ms Guchu and fellow IIEC commissioner Mr Davis Chirchir visited the scene and conferred with police.