Claims of witchcraft and circulation of propaganda leaflets have hit Bungoma County as candidates intensify their campaigns ahead of Monday’s polls. Trade Minister and CORD Coalition principal Moses Wetang’ula claims he has concrete evidence showing that a candidate for the Bungoma Senatorial position is using witchcraft to bind voters.
In an exclusive interview with The Standard in Bungoma town, Wetang’ula claimed that the candidate has enlisted the services of three nationals from a West African nation to “do funny things at various venues” within the County in a bid to win the elections.
The minister urged the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and police to investigate and take quick action against candidates engaging in dirty practices to sway voters to their side during the polls.
“The candidate that I am talking about is a certified consumer of witchcraft and he has been seen in the open engaging in what he knows best yet no action has been taken. I want him disqualified from the race because it’s against the law to practice witchcraft. I have the evidence”, Wetang’ula said.
The minister, however, exuded confidence that he’s going to trounce everyone to win the hotly-contested Bungoma senator seat inspite of some aspirants engaging in ungodly practices in a desperate attempt to win.
“I am a Christian and I believe in God. After my campaigns, I am fully convinced that the people of Bungoma County will give me the mandate to represent them in the senate because they have confidence in my leadership,” said Wetang’ula.
But in a separate interview with The Standard, former nominated MP Musikari Kombo dismissed Wetang’ula’s allegations.
He termed the allegations as baseless saying Wetang’ula has clearly sensed that he (Kombo) is ahead of the race and poised to win the Monday’s race.
“I am the one he’s referring to because recently, three MPs from Nigeria led by the Deputy Chief-Whip of the Nigerian National Assembly accompanied me during one of my campaign rallies in order to get a feel of the Kenyan election campaigns”, Kombo said.
“They did so in broad daylight and by virtue of me being the President of the African and Caribbean Parliamentary Union group (ACPU), the Nigerian deputy chief-whip represents his country in the group,” explained Kombo.
The former PNU nominated MP gave the names of his guests as Muktar M. Ahmed (Deputy Chief-Whip) and MPs Ibrahim Ebbo and Hussein Ismaiya who he said were on a stop-over to Europe and decided to show their solidarity with him as their ACPU President.
“You can even counter-check their flight itinerary with the Kenya Airways. They stopped over for a day and flew to their destination the same evening through the Kisumu International Airport. How can someone brand a deputy chief-whip and honorable members of parliament of a friendly state as witch-doctors? This is totally absurd!” said a visibly angry Kombo.
At the same time, former Ministry of Livestock Permanent Secretary Ken Lusaka who is running for the Bungoma gubernatorial seat on a New Ford-Kenya ticket has also cried foul over the underhand tactics
being employed by his rivals to wrestle voters’ support from him ahead of the elections.
Lusaka complained that leaflets fully superimposed with his photograph have been circulated in the area purporting that he intends to shift the County headquarters from Bungoma town to Kimilili where he hails from if elected.
“These are nocturnal deals of my rivals who have sensed an early defeat because they even lack the capacity to propagate their policies in broad daylight. However, I am not deterred because all they are doing is cheap propaganda and I appeal to the residents to ignore such stories,” said Lusaka.
The former PS, however, urged the IEBC and the police to investigate the authors and distributors of the leaflets and take punitive action against the culprits including disqualifying the aspirant involved in the underhand deals.
IEBC Upper Western Regional Coordinator Japheth Yegon said the commission has not received any official complaints over the claims by Wetang’ula and Lusaka but cautioned aspirants against engaging in acts that can cause unnecessary tension ahead of the Monday exercise.
“We haven’t received any formal complaint but in case we receive any, we will act and do so decisively. Kenyans must participate in the elections without any coercion or any other acts that are deemed as being against the law. All aspirants must be warned that we are very alert and we are leaving nothing to chance,” cautioned Yegon.
Campaigns in Bungoma County have attracted a heated race for both senatorial and gubernatorial positions.
Wetang’ula and Kombo face off for the senate seat with former Trade and Industry Minister Dr Mukhisa Kituyi who is contesting on a United Democratic Front (UDF) ticket and former Bumula MP Lawrence Sifuna of URP.
Lusaka squares it out for the gubernatorial seat with Internal Security Assistant Minister Alfred Khang’ati (ODM), former Ambassador Jack Tumwa (Ford-Kenya), former journalist and diplomat Wabwoba Walinywa (UDF) and a former Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Cosmas Barasa of TNA
