How The ‘System’, Goons Were Used To Rob Me Of My Victory – Wainaina.
Eng. Patrick Wainaina Wa Jungle addressing a press conference on Wednesday when he announced his defection from Jubilee Party and his resolve to vie as an independent candidate come August 8. |
Powerful officials at the Jubilee Party (JP) Headquarters, Thika security
personnel and some goons were some of the people responsible for the loss of
Eng. Patrick Wainaina Wa Jungle in his bid to clinch the prestigious Thika Town
Constituency JP ticket for the August 8 General Elections.
Addressed a press conference at a Thika Hotel on Wednesday, Eng. Wainaina
complained of blatant vote stealing and rigging in the repeat party nominations
in majority of the polling centres especially those that were more inclined to
the sitting MP Alice Wambui Ng’ang’a.
1. Powerful
people at JP HQs
Wainaina lamented that some powerful individuals at the JP HQs in
Pangani manipulated the process through unfairly favouring the incumbent and
using the county administration to rig the elections.
He said that after realising some anomalies in the failed
primaries held last Friday, Wainaina went to the JP HQs to lodge his
complaints. Among his grievances were some returning officers and clerks who
were said to be favouring the incumbent in most polling stations.
“I raised my concerns at JP HQs on Monday and they have a
memorandum of the issues we raised but it was very clear from the word go that
someone at the wanted me out and was determined to achieve this unfairly. Even
after they promised me that they would reshuffle the clerks, all those clerks
who supervised last Friday’s failed elections assumed their roles in the
stations. When my team complained of the same on Tuesday morning at The Thika
Town Hall, they were harassed and intimidated by the police and other agents of
my competitor,” said Wainaina.
Wainaina said that in some polling centres where Alice had strong following, she was allowed to have as many agents inside the voting hall as she wanted, with her opponents forced to make do with only one per polling station.
He added that the 15 among those who presided over the exercise people well known to sympathetic to the incumbent.
He added that the 15 among those who presided over the exercise people well known to sympathetic to the incumbent.
“Some of these people worked at the C.D.F. office under the
current MP. There were others who on Friday, acted as her agents at various polling
stations across the constituency. How do you become the judge and the bench in
your own case? It was very evident that the jury was leaning towards the incumbent
and there was no way they could be expected to deliver a just verdict,” he
lamented.
2. Tampering
of results.
Wainaina complained that there were a few cases the Returning
Officers deliberately altered the results in favour of the sitting MP. He said
that whenever concerns were raised by his agents, they got thrown out in the
full glare of police officers. He added that after the exercise, some of these
people could be heard bragging about the malpractices along the streets and
within the polling station themselves.
Wainaina also claimed that there were videos going round on social
media showing cases of elections malpractices as well as agents and opposition
supporters being harassed or beaten by both the police and Alice’s supporters.
He noted that such malpractices were more so perpetrated deep in
the night in the polling station where polling went beyond midnight.
“Just to say the least, these results were a sham and it is very
painful when the vote of any vote fail to count. This was not rigging but
direct robbery,” he said.
3. Security
forces, administration aided rigging.
The aspirant noted that from the beginning of the campaigns last
years, aspirants have been complaining of interference of the administration in
favour of the incumbent. He said that all through, their grievances fell on
deaf ears as decisions made by the authorities have always been skewed to
favour the sitting MP.
Last Tuesday, according to Wainaina, this bias became so evident
among some police officers and chiefs who sided with the incumbent’s agents and
supporters to intimidate Wainaina’s supporters and agents. In some cases, the security
forces intimidated returning officers who were not willing to cooperate.
“There was a direct intimidation in polling stations where my
competitor was very strong and in areas that the race for votes was tight. The
local administration openly favoured the incumbent in all the decisions they
made to contain the situation irrespective of who was in the wrong. In some of
these polling stations, my agents were intimidated and ejected as the MP’s
activists took over polling stations. You had no idea who was voting and who
wasn’t, or even what transpired within these polling stations in the absence of
my agents. Unfortunately for me, it was really hard to control what they were
doing as the administration was on their side,” he said.
4. Stuffed
photocopied ballots for MP.
The use of photocopied ballot papers by the JP leadership was the
most unfortunate decision the JP HQs made in these primaries, noted Wainaina. He
pointed out that some supporters of the incumbent went and photocopied ballots meant
for the MP and pre-marked them in favour of the sitting MP.
Those voters known
to support the incumbent were said to have stuffed these illegal ballots within
their clothing and stuffed them into the ballot boxes meant to for the MP.
“A group of the incumbent’s supporters went round the constituency
distributing the photocopied ballots and assisted them to smuggle ballot papers
into the boxes. That explains why the total votes cast for the MPs did not
tally with any of the other seats. Those for the MPs way exceeded those of the
MCAs, Senators, Women Reps and the governors,” said Maina Theuri, the chairman
of Wainaina’s campaign team.
He also noted that people known to be supporters of his opponent were allowed to vote using an ID card and their names written down in an exercise book whenever their names missed in the IEBC/Party registers. These privileges were not accorded to supporters of Wa Jungle or Morris Mburu for they were all turned away.
He also noted that people known to be supporters of his opponent were allowed to vote using an ID card and their names written down in an exercise book whenever their names missed in the IEBC/Party registers. These privileges were not accorded to supporters of Wa Jungle or Morris Mburu for they were all turned away.
Vie as an
Independent Candidate.
All in all, said that he would not seek redress from the party
leadership as it was now evident to him that they had a preferred candidate. He
therefore officially resigned from Jubilee Party and would seek election as an
independent candidate. He exuded confidence that he would beat all the odds and
emerge triumphant come August 8 despite having to work against the forces
behind his ouster from the party.
“Well, besides all what they did to rig themselves in, they only
managed to beat me with barely a thousand votes. I refuse to concede defeat. So,
let’s meet on August 8 and may the will of Thika people prevail. Otherwise, I
thank all of you for the support you accorded me. Alluta Continua,” said
Wainaina.
Support
President Uhuru.
He said that he was in of support President Uhuru Kenyatta’s
reelection bid and would seeks votes for him and his deputy as he solicited for
his own votes for MP. He added that his mission to transform Thika was still in
course and none of his programmes would stop.
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