Kibra voters who visit Deputy President William Ruto's Karen home for McDonald Mariga's campaigns are allegedly forced to surrender ID cards, one of victims has claimed.
According to the victim, who spoke in confidence due to safety issues, he gave his ID card upon entry with Abagusii community team that visited on Tuesday.
The card, he said, is used to ascertain whether or not they are genuine voters in Kibra before they are sorted out by DP William Ruto's team.
"Yes, we were giving out the ID cards for verification after which they were returned. I was in the Abagusii community delegation on Tuesday. All we want is money, I don't care how I get it," he said.
Dr Ruto was scheduled to meet Luo community living in Kibra on Wednesday but the meeting was postponed to next week due to his state engagements.
It's perhaps this claim that forced ODM to demand a voter register from IEBC. A source told one of the local publication that ODM team claimed that Dr Ruto was accessing KIEMS kit for Kibra.
"Our concern was how comes at DP Ruto’s residence there is a KIEMS kit where those who go there are first told to surrender their IDs for verification if they are indeed registered voters before they are facilitated," the source said.
"That shows that he [Ruto] is able to access the voter register. What else can he do with the register at his disposal?"
But the DP's communications secretary David Mugonyi dismissed the claims, saying Jubilee does not need the kits to win the November 7 poll.
"We do not need the KIEMS kit to win Kibra. The people will decide. This is mediocrity redefined," Mugonyi said.
After the meeting, ODM said that they agreed with IEBC to have the fully updated register by next week, around two weeks to the by-election.
“We had a fruitful meeting with the IEBC Chairman, Commissioners and Senior Officials. It was cordial and consultative.
"They agreed to provide the updated voter register for Kibra Constituency next week. They will also address other concerns we raised by our party,” ODM posted on their Twitter page.
Through Mariga, Dr Ruto is keen to raid Kibra, a region that has traditionally voted for ODM leader Raila Odinga. The party fielded Imran Okoth.
Others in the race are Raila's former aide Eliud Owalo of Amani National Congress party and Eng Ramadhan Khamisi of Ford Kenya party.