With only two weeks remaining to the hotly contested Kibra MP by-election, claims that residents are selling their identification cards for vote tally manipulation have emerged.
According to supporters of ODM candidate Imram Okoth, there is a planned election fraud scheme hatched by a rival camp, which they claim is buying ID cards for as little as Ksh 2,000.
Led by ODM spokesman Phillip Etale, supporters of the Raila Odinga-led political party took to social media to expose the alleged dirty politics by Jubilee Party contestant MacDonald Mariga whose camp, they say, has entered panic mode.
“But why would a SANE man/woman surrender their ID card for 2K(2000)? It beats me…” Etale wrote on Twitter.
The claims have ignited an online spat between supporters of the two rival factions, with Mariga’s supporters terming ODM’s claims as a panic response to Mariga’s manifesto for the constituency.
According to reports emerging from this online turf, the ID card buyout started several weeks ago, and the leadership of ODM Party is well aware although no action has been taken so far.
I am seeing this #StopBuyingIDs hashtag.
I want to tell you all that the evidence We collected was forwarded to @TheODMparty officials 3 weeks ago….THEY DID NOTHING about it..
Information about parallel voters register us also with them,they are DOING NOTHING.
— Mr. Kinuthia Pius. (@Belive_Kinuthia) October 23, 2019
Meanwhile, the ODM leadership has called for sobriety amongst voters, advising them that their ID cards are crucial documents that will be needed even after completion of the by-election.
A section of the ODM supporters has also accused the IEBC of being in cohorts with Jubilee Party, claiming that the KIEMS kits set to be used during the November 7 poll are being manipulated at Deputy President William Ruto’s residence in the nearby Karen Estate.
It has come to our attention that KIEMS kits were taken to Karen amidst tight security and a delegate of Kibra residents are already voting. The voters were stripped of any device that can record. @IEBCKenya is fully aiding this electoral malpractice! #StopBuyingIDs
— King Fred Asira (@KingFredAsira) October 23, 2019
As one of the most prominent mini-polls in the country since the 2017 General Election, the Kibra by-election is considered as a sneak preview of how things might play out during the 2022 General Election, where Ruto and Raila are projected to be the main contestants.
Many believe that the outcome of the ballot, which arose from the death of former MP Ken Okoth, will be an indication of who will take over the presidential reigns from Uhuru Kenyatta, who is serving his final term.
Although Kibra is considered a stronghold of the ODM Party, Jubilee’s Mariga has poked holes into this belief owing to the large crowds that attend his campaign rallies, a phenomenon that ODM has blamed on alleged crowd hiring.