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Kiambu County Governor James Nyoro has been accused of causing chaos at Juja tallying centre during the counting of votes for Juja parliamentary-by election in Kiambu County.
Juja residents went to the ballot on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 to to elect their new Member of Parliament in a highly contested race between Jubilee Party’s Susan Njeri Waititu, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria’s Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP)’s George Koimburi and nine other candidates.
During the tallying of the votes at the Mang’u High
School, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was forced
to halt the process after chaos erupted when Kuria’s candidate took an early
lead.
Videos shared on social media showed a bitter Nyoro lashing out at IEBC officials, saying he could not allow his Jubilee party to be defeated.
“We have been very quiet, but we are here. Every vote counts! We want to be told who lost our votes in the field,” he said at the top of his lungs insisting he could only accept the results “over my dead body,” Nyoro stated.
The Kiambu County boss was accompanied by Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni Wamushoba who also complained about “stolen” votes during the tallying process.
A heavy police presence was observed in the polling
station as the drama became intense, forcing the electoral body to halt the
tallying.
“At around 10:20pm, there was disruption of the
tallying process at Mang’u High School polling centre in Juja constituency by a
group of individuals led by Kiambu Governor James Nyoro. These acts of
hooliganism made it impossible for the tallying process to proceed,” a
statement by IEBC indicated.
The Wafula Chebukati-led commission said it stopped
the process to ensure the safety of its staff and the tallying gadgets.
By the time the chaos erupted, PEP’s Koimburi had
garnered over 50% of the votes while Waititu was in a distant past with less
than 30%.
Koimburi ditched the ruling Jubilee party and joined
PPE just before the campaigns began.
The Juja parliamentary seat fell vacant after area
MP Francis Munyua Waititu passed away.
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