Kisumu leaders say no to elections, ask Chebukati to take back election materials.
By Dickson Odhiambo.
Kisumu leaders say no to elections, ask
Chebukati to take back election materials.
LEADERS in Kisumu County have vowed that no election will
take place tomorrow in any part of the county as planned by the Independent
Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
Led by Kisumu County Governor Prof.Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o,
the leaders have vowed to resist any attempt by the electoral body to force the
residents to take part in the exercise which they have described as a sham one.
They have urged the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and his
team to take back all the election materials away from the region, adding that
residents will not vote tomorrow.
Speaking at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral
Hospital in Kisumu after visiting the various victims of police brutality, the
leaders said they will ensure that nobody from the county participated in that
election since the Nasa Leader Raila Odinga had already withdrew from it and
urged his supporters to stay away from the polling stations.
Kisumu Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o has said that the Nasa
Coalition does not recognize the Elections held yesterday and even the one that
IEBC wants the fourb counties of Nyanza to participate in after it was
postponed yesterday by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati.
Nyong’o says already anti-riot police officers have
brutalized a number of the area residents and would not like to see a lot of
such like a thing anymore.
He says already 50 cases have been reported with 42 people
being beaten by the police and three people have since lost their lives after
being shot dead by the police.
Nyong’o has appealed to the area residents to donate blood
so as to help those who have sustained injuries during the protests.
“I want to urge the public to help in blood donation so as
to help our people who have since been injured by the police during the riots,”
Nyong’o says.
Kisumu Senator Fred Outa says no resident within the county
will participate in the tomorrow’s polls.
Outa says police have used excessive force in dealing with
peaceful protestors within the county.
He says Nasa had already made its position clear that it
will not take part in any election this October, adding that no amount of
intimidation will make the residents of Kisumu County vote in the election.
He asks the people to resist any attempts by the electoral body
to impose an election on the people of Kisumu county and Nyanza in general.
“I want to ask our people to be very firm and resist any
attempt by the so called IEBC to impose election on the people of Kisumu and
Nyanza in general and this is because we had already made our position clear as
Nasa that we will not take part in any election in October,” Outa says.
Kisumu Women Representative Rosa Buyu says the plight of
Women and Children hangs in the balance after police have harassed, tear gassed
and injuring some of them.
Buyu claims that it has been a nightmare after some women
have been allegedly raped during the night hours after anti-riot police
officers broke into their houses.
Clergy from Nyanza have added their voices by saying that
the order by IEBC Chairman is not appropriate.
They say that such an order borders on subjecting the four
counties of Nyanza into further state of chaos and police brutality to a level
that is not commensurate to the primary objective of the entire electoral
process.
In a press statement read on behalf of the clergy by the
Bishop of Bondo ACK Diocese Prof. David Kodia, the clergy also condemned the
police brutality in Nyanza region.
ENDS:
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