RESIDENTS CALL FOR INVESTIGATIONS OVER MASS TRANSFER OF VOTERS IN NYERI.

Nyeri residents are up in arms over claims that Honourable Esther Murugi, who is serving her 2nd term as the MP for Nyeri Town Constituency, is promising bursaries and inclusion into the lists of those who will receive payments for vulnerable people, to parents and elderly people in Tetu, Othaya and Kieni constituencies, if they agree to move to Nyeri Town Constituency and vote for her during the coming elections.

This issue has been raised with the IEBC and the electoral body confirmed last week that they are investigating the matter. Residents are now threatening to call for mass demonstrations if the IEBC does not move with speed and get to the bottom of these claims.

It is alleged that voters are being transported from Tetu, Othaya, and Kieni to Nyeri town with a promise that they will get bursary funds and money for the elderly.

Efforts to reach the MP were futile as her phone went unanswered. However, a member of staff from the CDF office came to her defense saying that it was not against the law for one to change his or her polling station.

Research at the IEBC constituency office shows that close to 3000 people have transferred their votes from Tetu, Kieni or Othaya in the last two weeks. Most of these people are elderly. Others are insisting on carrying proof of transfer, usually a copy of the transfer applications.

Some of the complainants have copies of the forms they provided to the Nyeri CDF office as evidence they had transferred their vote.
However, Nyeri Town parliamentary aspirant Ngunjiri Wambugu believes the exercise by Hon Murugi: if the reports are true: is completely inconsequential to the outcome of the coming elections.

“Nyeri has over 65000 votes already registered as per 2013. We will raise this numbers by the end of the mass registration exercise. I have no problem even if she transfers 5,000 foreign votes into Nyeri. She will have to tell the other 65000 voters why she believes she can use resources allocated to Nyeri, to bribe voters from other constituencies to vote for her,” said Wambugu.

Andrew Kimani, a boda-boda rider along Gakere Street Nyeri County shares the same sentiments. He wonders why the MP usee money to bring in voters from other constituencies. He exclaimed.

 “Maybe she knows that we are so tired of her as Nyeri voters we will not vote for her, at any cost,” said Andrew

Mama Wambui, a food vendor at Nyeri's 'soko mjinga' believes that this is the main reason why Nyeri has registered the lowest number of voters in Central Kenya. She feels that incumbent MPs in Nyeri, despite having the resources and capacities to educate unregistered voters on the importance of registering as voters, are more interested in moving votes across the region to their favor.

“They do not care about getting Uhuru votes. They just want to protect their seats. We will send all of them home,” she declared, as she continued arranging her Sukuma wiki.