Lunga Lunga gears up for poll, awaits court verdict

By TOBIAS CHANJI

The Independent Electoral Boundary Commission (IEBC) continued with its preparation for the upcoming Lunga Lunga parliamentary by-election even as it awaits a ruling for an appeal lodged by CORD candidate, Khatib Mwashetani.

Mwashetani will face United Republican Party’s (URP) Omar Zonga, who defected from CORD early this month.

Lawyers from both sides of the case gave final submissions to the Court of Appeal in Malindi and are now awaiting the judgement. Mwashetani is challenging the nullification of his March 4 victory.

By yesterday the IEBC had completed training trainers of other electoral officials at Bandari College in Mombasa.

“It is now all systems go and we don’t want to concentrate much on the appeal. Our lawyer will represent us but, on our side, we want to make use of the minimal time remaining,” said the Lunga Lunga Returning Officer Juma Musa in a phone interview with The Standard.

Musa said IEBC had replaced some of the presiding officers and clerks from the March 4 poll.

“Most of our personnel are teachers and some had said that they were supposed to mark the national exams while others were travelling, but those that we have picked have assured us that they will be available,” he said.

Training of 89 presiding officers and 89 deputy presiding officers will start tomorrow (Saturday) at Lunga Lunga Secondary School while the training of 267 clerks will start after four days.

Yesterday, Musa cautioned candidates against hate speech in their campaigns and warned them of disqualification if found culpable.

“I have been personally talking with all candidates after every two days and urging them to respect our code of conduct,” Musa revealed.

Various candidates continued with their spirited campaigns with only nine days to go.