Violence broke out in Kandara Constituency on Thursday, January 5, as voters voted to elect their Member of Parliament representative.
The warring parties' claimed that bribery attempts marred the entire process that kicked off at 6:00 am.
Police, who stepped in to avert the crisis, arrested a prison warder and other goons who turned violent at Kariua Polling station.
According to Murang’a Police Commander Ali Nuno, trouble ensued after the warder assaulted youths at the polling station.
"The warder got in mob trouble with some youths at the polling station, and when his colleague intervened, he assaulted them.
"The warder is being held at Githumu Police station as investigations continue," stated Nuno.
UDA Secretary-General Veronica Maina led a group of politicians to monitor the exercise, and they also claimed that their opponents were bribing voters.
The battle to clinch the seat was between Ford Asili and United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidates.
Both the Ford Asili candidate Njau Mbuchu and Njuguna Chege traded accusations over alleged voter bribery.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) organised the by-election after the Constituency's MP, Alice Wahome, was appointed to the Cabinet by President William Ruto.
Kandara residents headed to the polls, where voters were tasked with choosing their most preferred candidate from a pool of eight candidates. The Constituency has 105,005 registered voters.
Five of the eight candidates were nominated by political parties, while three ran as independents.
During the UDA nominations, Wahome’s preferred candidate Injinia Stephen Mwaura came third after he garnered 4,414 votes against Chege’s 7,826. Njau came second after he garnered 5,335 votes.
