Ballot papers ready, says ECK

Ballot papers for the July 24 by-elections in five constituencies are ready and will be flown into the country soon.

Electoral Commission of Kenya chairman Samuel Kivuitu said the papers will be dispatched to the constituencies by July 21.

And Kanu yesterday met to strategise on how to finance campaigns for its candidates. The party plans to raise Sh12 million.

A meeting chaired by vice chairman Henry Kosgey agreed that each MP should contribute at least Sh50,000 to the campaign kitty.

And five MPs will be deployed in each constituency beginning next Tuesday until the election day. The party will finalise its election campaign plans on Tuesday.

The constituencies are Nakuru town, Saku, Laisamis, North Horr and Moyale whose MPs died in a plane crash in Marsabit district three months ago .

Mr Kivuitu made the remarks at Parliament's Old Chambers yesterday during a meeting between political parties and the commission on the preparations for the pending by-elections.

The chairman said that the commission faced several limitations in handling the by-elections in Marsabit district whose four constituencies were vast and poorly accessible. 

The meeting was also told by ECK vice-chairman Gabriel Mukele that the exercise of replacing lost cards in the five constituencies would continue until July 23 and invited would-be voters to report to their polling stations to inspect the electors registers.

Presiding officers for the by-elections will be trained on July 17 and 18 while clerks will train on July 20 and 21. Two agents per political party will also be trained.

The director of operations at police headquarters, Mr David Kimaiyo, assured the meeting that elaborate security measures, including the deployment of additional personnel, had been put in place in all the five constituencies.

He said military personnel had been deployed to constituencies in Marsabit district, which share common borders with other countries to combat any acts of infiltration by foreigners.

A special by-election desk has also been established at Vigilance House to act on any incidents at shortest time possible.

The commission said it will broadcast voter education programmes through the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation in Kiswahili, Rendille and Borana languages to sensitise the residents on the importance of voting and to maintain law and order. 

Elsewhere, Mandera Central MP Billow Kerrow claimed that the current skirmishes in Marsabit were not entirely acts of militias.

He said the Government wanted the situation in the ground to be fluid so that voters could be intimidated.

He claimed that Narc Kenya candidates were using Government resources, including vehicles with private registration numbers.