Preparation for Kisumu North ward By-election in top gears
By Dickson Odhiambo
December 4, 2020
Preparation for Kisumu North ward By-election in top gears
The Preparation towards the By-election in Kisumu North ward within Kisumu County is at top gears as residents of the areas get ready to elect their new Member of the county Assembly of Kisumu this December 15.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has ensured that all the necessary preparation needed for a successful election is put in place.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Returning Officer for Kisumu West Constituency Denis Omari who is in charge of conducting the By-election in Kisumu North ward says the process of nominations of candidates and the preparation of ballot papers.
He says already there is a process of voter education within the entire ward ongoing, adding that 3 voter educators from the Commission are traversing the ward to voters to ensure that they get information on how to execute the voting.
Omari says the Commission is also conducting training of poll officials who will be conducting the by-election, adding that Presiding Officers and their deputies will also be trained by next week thereafter the polling and counting clerks.
The Returning Officer says the Commission will also train the Security Officer who will be overseeing security issues during the mini-poll, adding that this will be the final training of the poll officials.
Omari says the Commission has also secured a service provider to handle the challenge of Covid-19, adding that the service provider will handle all the provision of all protocols that are needed in the management of the spread of the disease.
“When voters will be arriving at the polling stations, we will ensure that they have their face masks on, wash their hands or sanitize, take their temperatures and maintain social distance during the process. We also have an ambulance which will be stationed at the tallying center for emergency cases,” the Returning officer says.
The Returning Officer has urged all the nine candidates battling it out in the by-election to ensure that they strictly adhere to provisions of the Electoral Code of Conduct that they signed to ensure that there is not electoral malpractices during the electioneering period.
Omari says there are a total of nine candidates, adding that five of them are independent ones and four are from political parties candidates.
He says Commission has met all the aspirants and the security teams to make an assessment on how campaigns have been conducted ahead of the by-election.
Some of the parties’ candidates include Orange Democratic Movement Party {ODM} Samuel Dede, Hannington Onyango Ago of Movement for Democracy and Growth {MDG}, John Ouko Ayieko of Amani National Congress {ANC} and Ken Wagoyi of Maendeleo Chap Chap.
Some of the Independent candidates include Joshua Omondi Ogada, Daniel Osal Odero and Walter Akello among others.
He says there are a total 15,831 registered voters within the ward, adding that 60 Presiding Officers and their Deputies who will be manning the 30 polling stations have been recruited.
Omari adds that five tallying center Presiding officers who will be in charge of the tallying center have also been recruited with a further recruitment of 105 polling/counting clerks for the 30 polling stations.
The Kisumu North Ward seat fell vacant after the area Member of County Assembly Engineer Elisha Jack Oraro resigned and contested the County Assembly of Kisumu Speaker’s seat early this year.
Oraro is the Speaker of the County Assembly of Kisumu after being elected following the successful impeachment of Former Speaker Onyango Oloo who later moved to court where his impeachment was upheld.
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