By PAUL GITAU and STEVE MKAWALE

Four police officers were injured after a gang attacked them at St Andrews Primary School polling station in Malindi.

Witnesses said a group of six youth entered the polling station masquerading as voters before they confronted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials.

The youth, who are suspected to be members of the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council, ordered the elections officials to stop the exercise.

They claimed Coast was not in Kenya and the elections should not be conducted.

The gang roughed up the officials and voters at the station before one of the Administration Police officers guarding the polling station intervened.

The youth roughed up the officer and disarmed him of a loaded G3 rifle. Upon sensing danger the other officers intervened but were overwhelmed by the youth.

One officer shot thrice in the air to rescue his colleagues but his firearm developed a problem.

The youth also cornered three other officers and attempted to disarm them but they (officers) resisted and managed to escape to a nearby residential house.

Tension remained high as voters and IEBC officials scampered for safety before the suspected members of the outlawed group left in a waiting pick-up.

A few minutes later a contingent of heavily armed police officers arrived at the scene but the youth had already left.

The injured officers were later rescued from their hideout and taken to the Star Hospital for treatment.

The officers, two men and two women, sustained severe head injuries. Voting at the polling station was immediately stopped as the ballot boxes and other voting materials were destroyed. The IEBC officials left for security reasons.

Voting at HGM Primary School stalled after the public and IEBC officials fled fearing more attacks.

Challenges

Malindi DC Joshua Nkanatha confirmed the incident but could not give details.

The DC said he had convened an urgent security meeting and promised to give more details after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the mock General Election in Kajiado County exposed huge challenges that come with several electoral contests being held on the same day.

As witnessed in the exercise that was marred by a low voter turnout, it will take between 10 and 15 minutes to vote. Voters cast ballots for the president, governor, MP, senator, women and county ward representatives simultaneously.

The IEBC had organised for two systems that they intend to adopt in the coming elections.

In one of the systems, voters cast six ballots in different ballot boxes while in the second scenario, IEBC combined the boxes reducing the number to three.

The second system takes a longer time to vote compared to the first one as the contestants have been combined too.

It will be the first time in the history of the county to hold six electoral contests on the same day.

According to observers who participated in the exercise, the mock election showed that lack of adequate planning would pose a huge challenge to the upcoming General Election.

"Adequate planning is seen by the majority as absolutely key to the success of these elections," said Mr Patrick Muchiri, a representative of a non-governmental organisation. Muchiri said IEBC needs to put great emphasis on adequate voter education.

IEBC chairman Issac Hassan who toured the polling stations in the area declined to comment on the exercise, saying he would give his opinion and findings later.

Voters told The Standard On Sunday that the exercise was confusing compared to what they were used to.