We want a clean register: WIPER leaders demand

Wiper party leaders led by secretary general Hassan Omar have demanded a clean-up of the IEBC voters’ register in preparation of the August 8 General Election.

Speaking to the press shortly after converging for a party meeting Friday, the Mombasa Senator asked the IEBC to come up with one clean register of registered voters amid reported cases of double registration countrywide.

Earlier on there were speculations by the opposition that there are plans by the government to rig the elections.

Senator Omar cautiously warned the commission that they do not want a repeat of ‘ghost voters’ where the opposition alleges that the dead were amazingly resurrected to vote for one presidential candidate.

 The outspoken lawyer also took the chance to assure aspirants who were vying for the Wiper nomination ticket that the process will be transparent and every candidate would get an equal chance stressing that there will be no direct nominations.

 “I want to promise you that the nomination process will be fair as everyone will be given an equal and fair chance. I am preparing for the nominations as everyone else is, no one will get a direct nomination in our party,” said Omar.

He also dismissed claims that Wiper is facing revolts from a section of unsettled party members who want to defect to other parties, instead insisting that all party members are loyal and at peace.

 Far from election and nomination issues, Senator Hassan also took a swipe on the national government on its stance to retain Kenyan soldiers in the neighbouring country of Somalia, citing the KDF stay there as untenable.

This comes weeks after an unknown number of KDF officers were brutally murdered during an ambush attack by Al Shabaab militants in a KDF camp in Kulbiyow, with the Senator criticizing the government for concealing the truth about the number of soldiers who succumbed to the attack.

 “The government cannot continue concealing information about the slain soldiers while they try to sneak their bodies in the country. Just a few days ago, we buried some of the ‘sneaked’ bodies in Mombasa. Their (KDF) stay there is completely untenable, Somalia now has a newly elected president. Let them deal with their own issues,” added Omar.

 Meanwhile, he also gave Wiper’s itinerary of their coastal tour, a supposed opposition stronghold where they will continue their mass voter registration campaign as they seek to garner more numbers in voters than their Jubilee counterparts.

The campaign starts in governor Joho’s backyard, Kisauni and proceeds to Kilifi then Kwale among other coastal towns.