Polling centres opened at 6am Thursday for voters in Garissa Township, Kandara and Elgeyo Marakwet to elect new MPs and a senator to replace those appointed to Cabinet.
They will vote to replace former Garissa Township MP Aden Duale (now Cabinet Secretary for Defence) former Kandara MP Alice Wahome (now Water CS) and former Senator Kipchumba Murkomen (now Transport and Infrastructure CS).
In Elgeyo Marakwet, voting across 544 polling stations began early.
A woman casts her vote during the Kandara By-election at Karugia Primary School in Murang’a County on January 5, 2023.
However, a spot check by Nation.Africa showed that only a handful of voters had arrived at various polling centres.
At Iten Primary that has over 1,000 registered voters, only two people had cast their votes by 6.20am.
The situation was the same at St Patrick’s High School where one voter had cast the ballot 40 minutes after the polling station opened.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) county returning officer Charles Mutai said the polling opened on time and all materials reached the polling centre as required.
“I am urging voters to turn up in large numbers and vote for their next senator,” he said.
The IEBC cleared six candidates for the by-election. They are: United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate William Kisang, Tim Kipchumba from the Party of Peace and Development (PPD), Timothy Tanui (The New Democrats), human rights activist Jerotich Seii (Safina), lawyer Andrew Mengich (Independent) and a 27-year old Statistician Kelvin Kemboi.
National Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u speaks after voting in the Kandara by-election at Mucharage Primary School polling station on January 5, 2022.
In Kandara, polling stations opened on time but there few voters had turned up early morning. Majority of the early voters spotted at various polling centres were elderly people and women.
Eight candidates have been cleared to contest for the post. They are Chege Njuguna of UDA, Titus Njau Mbuchu (Ford Asili), Joseph Mbugua Mburu (Justice & Freedom Party Of Kenya – JFP), Kibiru Pmg Junior (Usawa Kwa Wote – UKW), Samuel Kioi (The New Democrats – ND) and independent candidates Pius Muiruri Muturi, David Kamweti Njuguna and Erastus Gatehi Nyoike.
In Garissa Township, there was low turnout by 7am with only a handful of people in the polling stations. And even three hours later, there was still low voter turnout even in what would ordinarily be the polling centres with the highest number of voters in Garissa Township Constituency.
A voter casts her ballot at Garissa Guest House polling Station for the Garissa Township MP post in the by-election held on January 5, 2023.
The Kenya National Library – Garissa Branch polling centre and Garissa Ndogo polling centre witnessed only a handful of voters. The constituency has 53,253 registered voters.
The contest to replace CS Duale has attracted six candidates.
United Democratic Alliance (UDA), the party on whose ticket Duale won the post in August 2022, has fronted Dekow Mohamed Barrow to replace the CS.
Other candidates are Nassir Mohamed Dolal of UDM, Muhiadin Abdirashid Ahmed of the Democratic Action Party-Kenya (DAP-K Party), Abdifaisal Amin (ODM), Abdikhaim Osman Mohamed (Democratic Party –DP) and Ibrahim Malow Shurie Nur (Narc-Kenya). BY DAILY NATION
