By Siyad Qabyala diid
Eldas constituency is one of the six constituencies in Wajir county with the number of registered voters of standing at 18,656 from 13,086 votes in the 2013 General Election. In the last poll, NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga, then running under Cord garnered 6,868 votes against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 2232.
As the August 8 polls nears, the constituency appears to be leaning towards NASA with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) parliamentary candidate Ahmed Borai enjoying massive support against long-serving legislator Adan Keynan, who ditched the Opposition to team up with
Jubilee in what is seen a wider scheme to rig polls in his favour because as things stand, he doesn’t command any support from the entire constituency.
Locals have read mischief in the the recent reshuffling of Returning Officers after a Jubilee leaning individual and a close friend of Keynan was posted in the area as RO, with MP and his camp backing him amid protest from other political players.
The influential MP finally has settled on Gitau Gichagua to push his interest and that of Jubilee in Eldas.
The Returning Officer who operates under the whims of the incumbent MP is already at it.
During the recent shortlisting of Presiding Officers and their deputies, Gitau delayed the Eldas list with all the other constituencies having made their lists public only to release a doctored list full of Keynan’s friends.
The list according to locals is a product of Gitau and Keynan because there is no way only people people related to the MP were shortlisted, yet other deserving graduates applied were left out.
Similar skewed shortlisting is also rampant among individuals ICT clerks (see attached) with locals now calling on IEBC to deal with the mess before the election date.
They now want the Returning Officer and all those recruited under him to vacate office, if elections in Eldas are to reflect the will of the people.
They feel if nothing is done, Eldas residents will be forced to participate in an election whose results have been comprised to serve the interest of a few individuals.
