Raila Odinga campaigns in Lamu on Saturday. [Photo/ Courtesy of RO]
NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga has claimed that the security curfew in Lamu County is another plot by the Jubilee administration to steal votes during the August 8 general election. The dusk-dawn curfew, scheduled to run for three months, was introduced by acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i about two weeks ago, in a move the government said was to contain attacks by Al Shabaab militants. But Mr Odinga, who was campaigning in the county on Saturday, said the move will not solve the vulnerable security situation in the area. “Whatever it is that Jubilee plans to achieve with the curfew isn't genuine. We want it lifted immediately because it will affect the voting pattern ... the government should strengthen the security apparatus instead of opting for curfews,” the ODM leader told a rally, as per the Star. The NASA hopeful, who has opposed the continued stay of KDF soldiers in neighboring Somalia, said the military officers are more needed in Kenya. "The KDF has no business in Somalia when its country is in dire need of security,” Mr Odinga said. Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Odinga’s running mate, said the Jubilee had failed to bring security to the people of Lamu, adding that the latest move to secure the island was politically motivated. "Jubilee know that their end is nigh, and that's why they are trying everything they can imagine. The Lamu curfew, for instance, is just a strategy to steal votes. But lucky for us, Kenyans are alert and they don't have a way to steal the election," he said, as quoted by the Star.