Poll losers in Kiambu protest massive rigging, demand votes recount
Losers of various elective positions in Kiambu including Governor James Nyoro yesterday protested as United Democratic Alliance (UDA) swept nearly all the seats in the county.
Besides capturing the Governorship, Senator and Woman Rep positions, UDA also won 11 out of the 12 parliamentary seats in the county with one going to an independent candidate.
Senator Kimani Wamatangi (UDA) was declared the new Kiambu Governor after beating six other candidates among them Governor Nyoro to clinch the seat.
He garnered 348,370 votes ahead of his closest opponent Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina ‘Jungle’ who got 237,361 votes when the results were announced at the Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology county tallying centre.
Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo of Tujibebe party got 106,980 votes to take third position in the polling whose outcome was dismissed by the losers as flawed and fraudulent.
Solid evidence
Nyoro of Jubilee came fourth with 99,562 votes, outgoing Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria of Chama Cha Kazi (25,512), Mwende Gatabaki (Safina) 4,674 and Agnes Ndung’u (Independent) 1,264.
Addressing a press conference in Kiambu to air their grievances, the group maintained that they have documented cases of alteration of figures at various polling stations alleging there was also bribery of election officials by some of their UDA competitors.
The outgoing Governor claimed that the United Democratic Alliance was working in cahoots with some election officials in the county to steal the election.
“The election in Kiambu was a sham. We had numerous cases of ballot stuffing and other irregularities and we are calling for a nullification of the results,” Nyoro charged.
Illegalities
Wainaina echoed this and maintained that the actual number of votes cast in the county was around 650,000 which is about 55 per cent of the total number of registered voters and not 822,000 as shown in the poll outcome. “There were blatant illegalities and irregularities in the entire counting process and figures were also inserted at tallying centres,” stated Wainaina.
Aloise said he has recorded about 200 cases of election fraud in Juja and was compiling data to file a court case. These, he said, included incidents where numerical insertions in excel sheets did not tally with those in words.
The candidates said they were consulting with their lawyers and would go to court to demand a recount or a cancellation of the election should the electoral body not heed their grievances.
“We shall be seeking orders to stop whoever is declared governor-elect from being sworn in,” said Wainaina and added that he has written to IEBC and recorded a statement with DCI raising his objection and calling for investigations.
