Nyong'o and Ranguma in verbal spat over campaign

Governor Jack Ranguma and his political nemesis, Senator Anyang' Nyong'o, Wednesday traded bitter words as they accused each other of sabotaging voter registration campaigns.

Prof Nyong'o, who was backed by Nyando MP Fred Outa, Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga, former Kisumu Mayor Sam Okello and outgoing ODM chairman Ayiecho Olweny, accused Mr Ranguma of running a parallel campaign contrary to an earlier agreement that required the party to run one campaign.

The legislator is vying for governor.

Nyong'o and his group also accused Mr Ranguma, who was picked to chair the county campaign team, of sponsoring violence to disrupt the registration exercise in some parts of the county. They claimed Ranguma had broken ranks with the committee.

The leaders alleged that youths hired by Ranguma were planning to hurt them.

"Our attention has been drawn in the past week to very disturbing activities by persons who call themselves Friends of Governor Ranguma and the governor himself that are aimed at scuttling the programmes we have set out to make our people acquire IDs and register as voters," they said in a statement read by Nyong'o.

But Ranguma denied the allegations and instead accused Nyong'o and his team of using diversionary tactics to cover up their dismal performance in the campaign.

"This is not the time to use unnecessary diversionary tactics. We are in a critical stage of mobilising residents to register as voters because this thing is not about our small egocentric interests but about Raila Odinga's political future," said the governor.

He said he had used his resources to take the campaign deep into the villages and was shocked to hear that he was being accused of sabotaging the exercise.