Who tipped over Kalembe Ndile's ‘overwhelming victory’?

Kalembe ndile adressing the press     PHOTO:COURTESY

By ONESMUS NZIOKA

Makueni, Kenya: What went wrong in Kibwezi West that saw Kalembe Ndile lose to Patrick Musimba in the just concluded by-election? This is the million-dollar-question pundits are at pains to answer after the unexpected turn of events.

The Kibwezi West Parliamentary by-election had been tipped to be a walk in the park for Ndile, one of Cord senior associates, and especially after a successful petition against Musimba’s election in March 4.

Ndile himself had declared that, “I am not in competition with anyone. Am only competing with Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni senator) who garnered 92 percent of the votes cast during the Makueni senatorial by election.”

“I am out to make history as the first Kenyan MP to be elected with a margin of 99 per cent of the votes,” Ndile declared after casting his vote at Emali Primary School.

Come October 17, with votes from all 164 polling centres announced, Musimba narrowly beat the confident Kalembe by 17,103 votes to 16,928; a difference of 175 votes.

A shocked Kalembe was left in tears weeping uncontrollably as he claimed the election had been a big sham and that his opponent had canvassed with IEBC officials to rig the election in his favor.

He said, “From my tabulation, 107 of my votes from four polling stations could not be accounted for. If I lost such a number of votes from only four polling stations that I keenly followed, you can just imagine what was happening out there!” he claimed.

“This returning officer (Noor Gedi) has bungled the election just like in March 4. He should be in prison and not presiding over an election where millions of shillings of taxpayers’ money has been spent on a sham election.” He added.

But rigging or no rigging, the biggest question is what may have caused Kalembe’s defeat even after bagging a Wiper ticket, support from Cord  and his stature as a Cord principal?

When he lost in 2007, Kalembe claimed he was too pre-occupied with campaigning for Mwai Kibaki’s presidential reelection to campaign for himself. In 2013, he told the same story about campaigning for Raila and Kalonzo.

The result, pundits say, was a complete inverse of the show during the campaigns where Kalembe and his Cord entourages attracted huge masses leaving no doubt he was destined for a landslide win. Musimba on the other hand shied from public rallies, choosing to conduct a door-to-door campaign.