Polls open for Elgeyo Marakwet, Kandara, Garissa Township by-elections
A voter casts the ballot at Iten Primary School Polling Station in Elgeyo Marakwet County, during the Elgeyo Marakwet Senatorial by-election on January 5, 2023. The seat fell vacant after Kipchumba Murkomen was appointed Cabinet Secretary.
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.
Garissa County Elections Manager Abdiwahid Hussein attributed the low voter turnout to locals’ lifestyle.
“We opened the 103 polling stations on time but up to now we have recorded low voter turnout. This is because most people have gone out to fend for their lives before coming back to vote. It is still too early but I am hoping the numbers will surge with time,” he said.
Voting in all 103 polling stations started with no major hitches.
“We started on time but up to now some officials are idle in the stations because voters are yet to come out,” Mr Hussein said.
UDA candidate Dekow Barrow Mohamed arrives to cast his vote at NEP Girls in the Garissa Township MP by-election on January 5, 2023. He urged his supporters to out in numbers and vote.
Garissa Governor Nathif Jama, who voted at 8am at Yathrib Primary School, urged residents to come out and vote.
While voting at NEP Girls in Garissa Town, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Dekow Barrow said the low voter up was worrying.
“I am hopeful the numbers will increase with the day. We are hoping for a peaceful process as people choose their preferred candidate,” Mr Barrow said.
A number of voters complained of failure by of the biometric kits, with an election official saying the kits had some difficulty in detecting fingerprints mainly from people who had applied henna and from older people.
“We have people with worn out fingerprints due to chemical applications and old age. We have to take their photos before we allow them to vote,” an election officer said.
Resident Halima Gure told Nation.Africa that, “I have been around but yet to be identified by the Kims kit. I am told my photo will be taken for me to be allowed to vote.”
Kenneth Mutinda, a mason and a voter in Garissa Township, said the physically taxing work he does have affected his hands and the kit could not recognise his fingerprint.
Electoral officials take a photo of a voter to allow her to vote in Garissa Township by-election, after the biometric voter kit failed to read her fingerprint on January 5, 2022.
Most centres opened in time, Mr Hussein said. “We shall not be extended closing time because of late coming of voters but only for those stations that delayed to start [the voting process]. We shall only allow maybe ten to fifteen minutes,” he said.
However, voters already within the polling centres at closing time will be allowed, Mr Hussein added.
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).
Reporting by Fred Kibor, Onyango K'Onyango, Ibrahim Karanja, Mwangi Muiruri, Manase Otsialo.
