[Banissa MP Mohamed Abdi (front), Lafey MP Shaaban Isaack, Mandera Governor Ali Roba during a press briefing in the past. (Photo/Star.)
Jubilee leaders in Mandera County have dismissed claims that more than 50,000 voters have been involuntarily transferred from their polling stations to other electoral areas in the county.
Led by Governor Ali Roba, the leaders on Monday said claims by the Economic Freedom Party are meant to undermine the IEBC’s work.
According to the leaders, the claim by Senator Billow Kerrow’s group was 'unfortunate, a fallacy and a fiction of their own imagination'.
This is after EFP alleged that Jubilee conspired with the IEBC to disenfranchise its supporters.
“Any allegations of illegal and fraudulent voter transfer of the magnitude is unfounded, reckless, malicious and a blatant lie aimed to place doubts on the integrity of the voter register and to achieve political mileage by our opponents,” Roba said .
The Jubilee leaders said EFP was created by politicians who were afraid of losing in the JP nominations.
“The move to form a new political outfit for use as a vehicle in the upcoming election is inspired by the sense of defeat and failure to rally the electorate to support their political bid,” Roba said.
The Jubilee leaders said they raised concerns with the IEBC during the voter registration drive over the conduct of some of its clerks who were allegedly colluding with elders and EFP to transfer voters to EFP’s strongholds.
“The IEBC has acted on the complaints and contacted the DCI to investigate the criminal activity of some clerks. They have since put five clerks behind bars,” read a statement by the leaders.
The leaders said some of the arrested clerks were allied to EFP and accused EFP politicians of attempting to derail the August polls to conceal their party problems.
“We know that EFP is facing a serious internal crisis and contradictions. We wish to categorically state that no amount of grandstanding and propaganda will alleviate the status of their desperate campaigns,” the team noted.