Five to vie for ODM ticket in Kajiado Central

KAJIADO: Five candidates will battle for the Orange Democratic Movement ticket in the party's Kajiado Central primaries Wednesday.

The nomination, by universal suffrage, will be held in 50 polling stations across the constituency, the ODM National Election Board said in a statement.

"Ballot papers and ballot boxes are ready and have been dispatched to the ground," the statement added.

Naomi Kipury, Peter ole Nkere, Olerasha Paita, Elijah Memusi Kanchori and Samson ole Kaika will face off in today's primaries to establish who will take on Jubilee's Patrick Tutui in the by-election.

ODM top brass held a meeting Tuesday which was attended by all the aspirants. They all committed to maintain peace during the primaries and election campaigns.

"Training of polling clerks has been going on. The clerks were selected from the ODM National Youth League and the Women's League wings of the party," board said.

The statement also indicated that Members of Parliament have been mobilised to oversee the nomination exercise. There will be at least one MP per polling station.

The board promised a free and fair exercise saying that county police officers had been engaged to provide security.

On Monday, Kanchori, who lost in the Jubilee Alliance Party primaries, defected to ODM citing poll irregularities. Kanchori garnered 10,100 votes against Tutui's 10,502.

Kajiado Central seat fell vacant following the appointment of Joseph Nkaissery to the Cabinet.