Monday, September 17, 2012

Voter bribery claims mar voting in Kangema



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A voter casts her vote in Kangema constituency on September 17, 2012. A low voter turnout marked the start of the by0election. PHOTO /  JOSEPH KANYI.
A voter casts her vote in Kangema constituency on September 17, 2012. A low voter turnout marked the start of the by-election. PHOTO / JOSEPH KANYI. 
By PATRICK NZIOKA pnzioka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, September 17  2012 at  13:24
A UDF official was accosted by the public on Monday on suspicion of bribing voters in Kibutha polling station, Kangema constituency, as voting for the by-election got under way.
It took the intervention of the Kangema DC Fredrick Muli who spirited away UDF Murang’a Coordinator Gerald Wambugu to the local police station.
As of mid-morning, voting was going on smoothly in all the polling stations save for the incident at Kibutha. The polling station is in Kanyenyaini area and has 921 registered voters. (READ: Aspirants allege plans to rig Kangema by-election)
At the Marimira Coffee Factory polling station, the presiding officer Ceasar Njoroge told the Nationthat the exercise was going well although the voters were turning up slowly.
The DC told the Nation that he was called to the scene and found a mob baying for Mr Wambugu’s blood accusing him of bribing voters.
But UDF Murang’a deputy secretary general Peter Karanja denied the allegation, accusing the mob of obstructing him from delivering identification papers to the party agents in the area.
Mr Karanja protested that their agents had been prevented from accessing the polling centers in the area due to lack of papers.
According to him they had decided to distribute the papers during the day for fear of being accused of compromising voters.
“They should tell the police who he has bribed. This is a gimmick to ensure that our agents are not allowed into the voting rooms. This is why we did not want to distribute the same at night. Our party adheres to the code of conduct on elections which we have signed”, he said at the police station where he had rushed to rescue his colleague.
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Police declined to arrest a man who claimed he had been bribed by Mr Wambugu. The man, Gitere Kirubi waved a Sh 1,000 saying he had been given the money the UDF.
A mob around Mr Kirubi started demanding that he shares the money as he had been instructed.
But a senior police officer who sought anonymity said they would not charge anyone including the two saying there was no evidence.
Earlier, an observer John Mathenge of the Global Veterans and Foundation and Peace Ambassadors had said in an interview his team had witnessed bribery of voters in Rwathia, Kenya Njeru, Kirembu and Karima areas by agents of a candidate whom he identified.
The returning officer Benson Njau in an interview acknowledged there were such allegations of candidates or their agents bribing voters on the eve of the by-elections which he had passed on to the police whom he said did not find any elections.
According to him the exercise was going on well and that no major incidents had been reported. He expects the exercise to close the exercise while counting kicks off 30 minutes later.

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