Sonko, Kenneth both cry foul early in high-stakes Nairobi battle

Both Sonko and Kenneth have complained over the disenfranchisement of their supporters in the vote/MOSES MUOKI/MUTHONI NJUKI

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 26 – Mike Mbuvi Sonko and Peter Kenneth might not be able to agree on who among them should carry the Jubilee flag for Nairobi Governor but both seemed to agree on Wednesday morning that the party primaries in the county fell short of free and fair.

Both Sonko and Kenneth complained that some of their supporters were denied the opportunity to vote after their names were found “missing” from the party register.

“Some names have been omitted from the party registers,” Sonko told reporters. “If your name starts with an ‘O’ it’s not appearing in the register.”

Sonko being informed his name was missing from the party register/MUTHONI NJUKI

Their complaints came about an hour before Jubilee’s National Elections Board Chairman Andrew Musangi made clear that in Nairobi, only those on the party register would get to vote in the nomination exercise.

In other counties, any ID card holder was allowed to participate. “This is a very cosmopolitan county; it hosts Kenyans from every corner of our republic. It hosts Kenyans with diverse political affiliations and in the circumstances we have currently instructed our presiding officers in Nairobi given the real and present danger of such infiltration to subvert the will of Nairobi voters, to use our party register until and unless any other advice comes from Jubilee Headquarters. We feel it is important to protect the party from any infiltration.”

Sonko was eventually allowed to cast his ballot/MUTHONI NJUKI

Sonko however saw it as an attempt to rig him out of the race and both he and Kenneth called on Musangi and his team to urgently address their concerns.

“There are a lot of irregularities… a lot of irregularities,” Kenneth said.

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

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