Bring On The Evidence On Poll Malpractice, IEBC To Tutui

The electoral commission says photos being circulated in the social media insinuating that some individuals voted during the Kajiado Central by-election despite not being registered as voters are of great concern.

The IEBC is calling on  those alleging that there is evidence of electoral malpractices to file a formal complaint with the commission.

In a statement to newsrooms, the commission’s communication manager Tabitha Mutemi says those who purportedly took the pictures should have alerted election officials and security personnel immediately instead of waiting to spread the allegations on social media much later.

Mutemi says that it is not allowed for people to pose for pictures in polling stations before, during and after voting. 

"The Commission is calling upon those with evidence to file an official complaint through the appropriate channels and the matter will be investigated and violators charged in a court of law," she said.

BASELESS ALLEGATIONS

The allegations came even as Patrick Tutui, who lost in the Kajiado Central Parliamentary by-election on Monday, said he is moving to court to contest the poll outcome, citing a litany of electoral irregularities, among them massive voter importation.

Tutui claims some Nairobi County Assembly members and other CORD political agents voted in Kajiado Central, yet they were not registered voters.

But the ODM director of elections Junet Mohamed has termed the allegations as baseless. 

Tutui garnered 15, 508 votes, while ODM’s Elijah Memusi clinched the seat with 16,008 votes.

But Tutui, who has failed four times in a row to clinch the Kajiado Central seat, says he has documentary and photographic evidence, to prove that his rival Memusi benefitted from votes cast by people who were not registered voters in the constituency.

CORD has questioned the credibility of the photos supplied by Tutui as evidence of voter importation.

Memusi’s triumph on Monday has given ODM a political boost, and Tutui’s loss marked the Jubilee Alliance Party’s false start in its maiden political contest.

By Maureen Murimi