[Jimmy Angwenyi with Deputy President William Ruto. He has been accused of imposing aspirants on Jubilee Party supporters. Photo/Hivisasa.com]
Jubilee Party aspirants in Kitutu Chache North on Monday accused incumbent area MP Jimmy Angwenyi of imposing his cronies on the party’s county elections board.
At a charged press briefing in a Kisii Hotel, aspirants led by Kitutu Chache North parliamentary hopeful Joseph Bogonko said the MP had attempted to hijack the nomination process by imposing a Mr John Orina as a board member.
They alleged that Mr Orina is a close associate of Mr Angwenyi and could not therefore expected to be objective and impartial if chosen as a board member.
“We are dismayed by the attempts by Mr Angwenyi to impose his cronies on the elections through unconstitutional and clearly unprocedural means. His intention is to influence the nominations in his favour through the strategic allocation of election board seats to puppets who will do his bidding,” said Mr Bogonko.
He accused the MP of using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) manager only identified as a Mr Dominic, of intimidating with threats of physical violence.
Mr Evans Ogoti, another aspirant, echoed his sentiments, saying the CDF official had threatened to castrate him and several others if they persisted in protesting Mr Angwenyi’s interference with the selection of election board members.
“It is shocking and unacceptable that Mr Angwenyi’s close associate, the CDF manager Dominic, would go around repeatedly threatening aspirants with castration should they fail to toe the legislator’s line,” said Mr Ogoti, a Sensi Ward aspirant.
Mr Ibrahim Ndemo appealed to the MP to concentrate his energies on getting reelected, saying his conduct during the exercise was not befitting for a sitting MP.
“As an elder and a senior statesman in the community, my appeal to the MP is to get on with his campaign in a sober and civilized manner instead of spending too much time fighting the process of establishing a properly constituted elections board in the county,” said Mr Ndemo.
He commended the national elections board executive Mr Aden Ali for his suggestion of a female compromise candidate to calm the warring groups during the selection exercise.
“We were at a stalemate until Mr Aden decided to calm matters by suggesting we select a female candidate for the position. This eliminated the possibility of unqualified proxies being imposed on the nominations process,” he said.
After protracted arguments between the pro and anti-Angwenyi groups, Ms Lilian Mayieka was selected to represent Kitutu Chache North in the county polls board.
Another aspirant, Mr Robinson Otuke, expressed his satisfaction with the selection process outcome, despite what he termed “tricks and shameless schemes by the sitting MP in a bid to usurp the will of the Kitutu Chache North voters”.
He said President Kenyatta would win the majority votes in the area with a margin that would surprise him.
“Contrary to reports appearing in section of the media, Kitutu Chache North is a Jubilee zone and will deliver the highest number of presidential votes from this region. We will surprise him and all our opponents doubting our capacity to retain our majority in the area,” said Mr Otuke.
Kitutu Chache North is home to incumbent Governor James Ongwae, who won the 2013 polls on an ODM ticket, scooping 66 percent of the total votes cast in the county. His home constituency however went to the victorious TNA candidate, Mr Jimmy Angwenyi.
Mr Otuke appealed to party supporters to shun infighting and work together to ensure JP retains the parliamentary seat it won in the 2013 elections.