Residents of Eldas in Wajir County on Friday demonstrated demanding for the transfer of the constituency IEBC head.
The residents claimed the IEBC official had discriminately picked candidates, who recently applied for IEBC jobs including presiding officers, deputy presiding officers, civic education officials and voting clerks.
They claimed that out of the 444 people who sent their applications to the IEBC, 157 candidates whose qualifications were considered are allied to a prominent candidate in the constituency represented in Parliament by Adan Keynan.
The demonstrators said the recruitment clearly indicated the election in the constituency would be rigged in favour of some aspirants.
“These are early plans to rig the election,” one protestor Abdi Yusuf said as quoted by the Wajir Chronicles.
He said Eldas constituents will not stand and watch the election rigged adding that residents have every right to elect who to represent them at which level.
The protestors also claimed 20 per cent of applicants for the IEBC jobs were not residents of Eldas constituency because they were registered as voters in other constituencies.
Claims also emerged during the demonstration that some residents’ names had been expunged from the IEBC voters register.
Eldas is represented in the National Assembly by Keynan who is among leaders from North Eastern region who ditched the opposition ODM and joined President Uhuru
Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party.The legislator is allied to gubernatorial aspirant Mohamed Abdi who is challenging Governor Ahmed Abdullahi.
[Past protests when the opposition agitated for the ejection of former IEBC officials from office.] themalayonline.com