An official of the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) has raised concerns over some state-aligned politicians who were monitoring their campaigners during the Mbeere North by-election campaigns and attempting to compromise their supporters.
The DCP Vice-Chairman in charge of Strategy, Peter Mwathi, said that they have reported these issues to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Mwathi revealed that they feel this conduct is suspicious, as it is against IEBC regulations.
“Even as we hope that we are doing our campaigns as expected, we feel threatened by how some politicians were following us,” he said.
“We truly know that they were dishing out money to our supporters so that they would not vote for our candidate,” Mwathi noted.
The seat fell vacant after its legislator, Geoffrey Ruku, was appointed Labour Cabinet Secretary by President William Ruto.
The DCP party was supporting the Democratic Party’s (DP) candidate, Newton Karish, while the ruling party, UDA’s, candidate was Leonard Wamuthende.
Mwathi said that they would feel disappointed, having invested heavily to win the seat, only for their supporters to be compromised by their competitors.
He said the campaign is a precursor of what might happen in the General Election, where the state may find a lot of people they expect to vote for them starting to support the opposition, prompting them to start countering the moves.
Mwathi, who is also the former Limuru MP, said if such issues are not controlled, the IEBC needs to be dissolved and another one formed.
“We want to see the IEBC stopping these issues once and for all. We have reported them. Otherwise, if they fail to act, we shall push until it is dissolved,” he warned.
The opposition campaigns are being led by DCP party leader and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, while Wamuthende’s campaigns are led by Deputy President Prof. Kithure Kindiki.
The seat is hotly contested because, even though only one person will win the by-election, Gachagua is confident that the DP candidate will win, while Kindiki has assured the state that he has been speaking with locals and that Wamuthende will win the election.
