I gave ODM officials 'chai' but they rigged me out of MCA race - MMUST student

Julius Omboko, (pictured) a student at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) is among the victims of the shambolic ODM primaries.

He alleged that despite the party officials demanding for ‘chai’ — which he voluntarily gave them, he was still rigged out of the Mahiakalo ward rep race. The fourth year Computer Science student lost to David Shikala, who is also ODM chairman in the ward.

Shikala got 465 votes against Omboko’s 154. He claimed that his victory was snatched from him yet he had rallied hundreds of university students to vote for him.

“I had the support of 4,700 students. My supporters were locked out of the polling stations as others missed their names on the party list,” said Omboko.

He alleged that party supporters at Mwiyala Primary which is his opponent’s ‘Tharaka Nithi’ — were allowed to use IDs to vote which was not the case in his stronghold of Bukhungu.

“I was rigged off my victory. I will be on the ballot as an independent candidate,” he said.

The determined aspirant believes that if his supporters had been allowed to cast their votes, he would have won the seat with a landslide.

He accused aspirants for Lurambi MP seat of being behind the scheme to deny him victory.

“Some aspirants for the MP seat played tricks to intimidate me. I did not ask for their financial aid to manage my campaigns,” the 31 year old student told the Nairobian. He also claims that electoral officials asked for ‘chai’ which he gave but did not work in his favor.