Aspirant wants poll staff transferred

By WAINAINA NDUNG’U

The Democratic Party ( DP) candidate for Othaya by-election has vowed to push on with his legal application for the change of election officials.

Peter King’ara said he did not want the April 29 by-election postponed, although, he had major concerns about the neutrality of gazetted officials. “We have made an application to the High Court to have all the 2013 officials transferred. We cited their failure in our election petition,” said King’ara. He said his campaign team was on the lookout for any attempts to rig the by-election.

He said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had given him zero votes in the local polling station while that was one of the localities he had massive support.

“This time we shall not let any rigging pass and we are asking IEBC to show its commitment to delivering a free and fair election by changing the officials,” said King’ara. He said the application on the removal of the Othaya election campaigns come up at the High Court recently. He accused a rival of spreading rumours that the election has been put off because they were scared of losing.

Political failures

He also told off TNA national officials for asking him to stop associating his campaigns with President Uhuru Kenyatta as DP was not a Jubilee coalition affiliate. “We associate with President Uhuru as supporters of his government,” he said. He also accused former MP Mary Wambui of using outsiders to try and harp on her re-election campaign because she had failed to deliver in the one year she was in office.

Former Grand Nation Union candidate for Nyeri County MP Rahab Mukami who was with King’ara accused Nyeri MPs who have been campaigning for Wambui of being political failures at home.

“When Kabando wa Kabando comes here to campaign for Wambui, tell him to go to Mukurwe-ini and supply his people with water and when Kanini Kega comes, tell him to go and fix Kieni roads,” said Mukami.