Nicholas Surei, an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Presiding Officer in Kwa Ndomo, Kilifi County, was on Friday morning arrested after he abandoned ballot boxes at the Constituency Tallying Centre and switched off his phone.
He allegedly took the ballot boxes to Mapimo Polytechnic Tallying Centre and disappeared.
He then switched off his phone and efforts to establish his whereabouts became futile. Four other presiding officers also abandoned ballot boxes and switched off their phones, delaying the announcement of results at Shanzu Teachers' College.
Ideally, Presiding Officers (PO's) are supposed to hand over the ballot boxes to Returning Officers (RO's).
Magarini Police Boss Gerald Barasa confirmed the arrest, stating: “The presiding officer, who is also a teacher, left the election materials unmanned. Detectives managed to trace him in the morning,”
[caption caption="IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati"]
[/caption]
He was ordered to go back to the tallying centre, where he was arrested by the police for abandoning his duties.
Kilifi is one of the counties that registered low voter turn-out.
This is after area leaders led by Governor Amason Kingi declared that there would be no election in the county.
Area residents heeded the call by National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga not to take part in the election.
[caption caption="Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi"]
[/caption]
At a recent rally in Rabai, Governor Kingi stated: “We NASA supporters are ready to go for election anytime but we cannot allow the election to be presided over by an electoral agency that has already taken sides.”
