Garissa Governor Ali Korane raises alarm over alleged vote rigging

Garissa Governor Ali Korane has claimed that Tuesday’s voting was rigged in favour of his opponent.

Mr Korane, who is defending his seat under Jubilee, alleged that electoral malpractices were carried out in Dadaab constituency as voting tallying continued.

He told reporters at his office that some politicians who were against him had conspired with electoral officials in Dadaab to deny him victory.

Chaos were reported at two polling stations, leaving one person dead and two others injured on Tuesday evening.

“Some people who have sensed defeat are trying to interfere with the credibility of the elections by rigging. We have information that some politicians flew to Dadaab from Garissa to try and influence the vote counting for the governor’s position,” Mr Korane said, without naming the politicians.

Dadaab votes

According to Mr Korane, at least 9,000 voters cast their ballots in Dadaab on Tuesday but unnamed politicians wanted the constituency returning officer to change the figure to 26,000.

“About 9,000 people voted in Dadaab, but these politicians are convincing the [returning officer] to change the figures to around 26,000. There is a standoff as we talk now because I think the RO is resisting the attempt,” he said.

Nation.Africa could not independently confirm Mr Korane’s claims as we could not reach election officials in Garissa County.

Fierce competition

Mr Korane is facing fierce competition from Mr Nathif Jama of the Orange Democratic Movement.

Mr Jama was the first governor of Garissa before he was defeated by Mr Korane in the 2017 elections.

In Mandera, claims of voter bribery were made on Tuesday by politicians eyeing different posts in the county.

Several people were arrested at different polling centres, with bundles of cash seized by the police, but Nation.Africa has since learnt that none was booked to appear in a court of law.

Party agents arrested

“At least three party agents were arrested at Mandera Village Polytechnic in Mandera town but were later released and still lost their cash to the police,” said Mr Ali Alio, a political party agent.

Another party agent was arrested at the Mandera DEB Primary School polling station and just like her two colleagues, she was set free.

By Wednesday evening, vote tallying at the constituency level was still ongoing.

“We are faring well and I can confirm that voting ended without any incident. The vote tallying is ongoing across the county and the results will be announced immediately after it ends,” said Mr Adan Harar, the Mandera County elections manager.