With barely hours to the highly anticipated November 27 by-elections, the United Opposition has come out with more explosive claims on an alleged rigging plot by the ruling party, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
The trio of Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua, Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka and DAP-K party leader Eugene Wamalwa held a press conference on the evening of Wednesday, November 26, claiming there was an elaborate scheme to stuff ballot boxes, particularly in UDA versus Opposition battle zones like Malava, Magarini and Mbeere North.
According to the United Opposition, the government was planning to deploy goons disguised as electoral agents at polling stations to cause a fracas, during which other government-allied officials would stuff ballot boxes with pre-marked papers.
The leaders further claimed that there was credible information that there were thousands of unserialised ballot papers which had made their way to competitive regions to swing votes against them.
"We have credible information that the serialisation of 820,000 printed ballots was not done correctly, creating a loophole for ballot stuffing," Kalonzo claimed during the presser in Nairobi. "30,000 remarked ballots have been dispatched to Magarini, Malava and Mbeere North."
Opposition specifically flagged Mbeere North, claiming 15,000 pre-marked ballot papers had been dispatched to the constituency, while a further 10,000 had gone to Malava, which is all but a two-horse race between government and opposition.
The stuffing scheme, according to the opposition, entailed a brief disruption by state-sponsored goons, after which compromised IEBC officials would use the opportunity to stuff ballot boxes with papers marked with names of government-preferred candidates.
Opposition also roped in IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan in the allegations, claiming he was personally pulling the strings in the rigging scheme.
"Violence is being prepared to be used as a tool to cripple this by-election. We therefore demand that the IEBC rise to the moment and confront the challenges facing the by-election. The commission must assure all Kenyans it is not entangled with broad-based masters," Kalonzo added.
On his part, Gachagua confirmed opposition would deploy its own agents in all battlegrounds to oversee the entire by-election process. The former DP went a step further by urging the agents to be thorough in their vetting of IEBC's conduct, leaving nothing to chance throughout the voting exercise.
Further, Gachagua called on the IEBC to ensure all armed plainclothes officers and agents are barred from entering polling stations with firearms, alleging that the government planned on using armed agents to intimidate their team.
"We want to allow IEBC to not allow officers into the polling stations. No agents should carry weapons inside the stations unless they are uniformed. We have asked our agents not to allow any voting until all agents are frisked. Once that happens, voting should go on," Gachagua warned.
Opposition's latest allegations now set a precedent for what promises to be an intense by-election, with their remarks coming hours after the National Police Service (NPS) warned politicians against interfering with the Thursday polls.
At the same time, the NPS also reassured Kenyans that security across the country will be maintained as preparations continue for by-elections in 24 areas, cautioning politicians against interfering with the electoral process.
IEBC Chairperson, Ethokon Edong, also warned candidates participating in the upcoming by-elections against showing up with truckloads of supporters or goons at the tallying stations.
