IEBC suspends election of MCAs in 5 wards

Ward elections in Mumias North Ward (Kakamega), South Gem Ward (Siaya), Kyome/Thaana Ward (Kitui), Oloimasani Ward (Narok) and Utawala Ward (Nairobi) will have to be carried out on later date.

Voters in the affected areas will head to the ballot with five ballot papers instead of six as it is supposed. According to electoral laws, the passing on of a fully cleared candidate calls for the suspension of an election.

South Gem candidate Maurice Nick Otieno Wanga died as he underwent treatment at a Kisumu hospital while Abdalla Kweyu, the Mumias North candidate died from a road accident.

The commission will gazette when the elections in the wards will be conducted.

“IEBC suspends the election for the elective positions stated in the seventh column of the owing to the death of candidates and shall communicate via a Gazette Notice when the said elections will be conducted,” read the gazette notice by the IEBC.

IEBC has affirmed its preparedness for the polls pledging to deliver free fair and credible elections.

The commission has sacked four election officials who were found at a candidates home at night.

The suspects comprised a presiding officer, two deputy presiding officers and a clerk.

According to Fredrick Apopa, the IEBC returning officer for Homa Bay county, their attendance at the meeting was unlawful.

Some of the attendees of the meeting included an MCA and parliamentary candidate but the matters which were being discussed are yet to be established.

“You cannot be in a meeting with politicians when the law requires you to be neutral,” Apopa told the media.

He explained that the commission would fill the vacancies in readiness for the polls.