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Kwale – Politicians in Kwale County are ferrying locals from as far as Mombasa to register as voters in Msambweni and LungaLunga ahead of 2017 election.
Most of the affected areas are Gazi, Ukunda, Msambweni, Shimoni and Vanga in LungaLunga among others.
Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya had claimed on Saturday last week that there was a plot to import about 30 000 votes in favor of Jubilee government ahead of 2017 elections.
Pongwe Kikoneni ward MCA, Nassoro Mgutta also lamented that transfer of voters from one area to another in LungaLunga is high.
“The vice is perpetrated by politicians who want to be elected by all means in 2017 and it is worrying us as leaders,” he said.
Mgutta urged IEBC to do something about the issue.
“In one ward, an MCA won with 800 votes in 2013 but someone else has imported over 1 000 voters meaning there is a problem which needs to be addressed,” he added.
Mgutta took issue with the registration of voters in LungaLunga saying one of the officers in charge is a relative to a known politician and can be used to sabotage the exercise in his rival’s strongholds.
“That is something real and if LungaLunga people don’t register as voters, we will lose the seat again to outsiders,” said a politician.
But an IEBC official in the area said there is nothing they can do to stop ferrying of voters from or to other regions.
South coast IEBC coordinator, Albert Gogo said the Commission has no mandate to monitor movement of voters from one place to another.
He said their mandate is only to ensure those who visit registration centers are registered in the ongoing voters registration exercise across the country.
“If you come to my center,I will register you but I can’t ask how you got there,” he told the press on the phone Wednesday.
The law allows citizens to register as voters anywhere in the country as long as one has national identification card or valid passport.
