IEBC official's leg amputated after Wajir election day shooting
Mohamed Kanyare, the IEBC presiding officer who was shot in Eldas constituency at the Wajir County Referral Hospital.
What you need to know:
- Kanyare was stopped and asked to enter a car after which he was told to alter form 35A in favour of one of the candidates but he declined.
- Inside the CDF Hall, when he was about to hand over the forms, someone switched off the lights and Kanyare was shot at close range.
- The elections were aborted on August 9 after chaos erupted following a dispute on how IEBC had hired presiding officers and their deputies.
Mr Mohamed Kanyare, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission presiding officer at the Towheed polling centre in Elnur Tula Tula ward, Eldas constituency who was shot by unknown persons on election day, has had his leg amputated.
Mr Kanyare was rushed to Wajir County Hospital after he suffered life-threatening gunshot wounds at the Eldas Constituency Development Fund (CDF) offices on August 10.
A close friend of his said Mr Kanyare was stopped and asked to enter a car. He was then asked to alter form 35A in favour of one of the candidates but he declined.
“Inside the CDF Hall, when he was about to hand over the forms and gadgets to the deputy returning officer, someone switched off the lights and Kanyare was shot at close range,” the friend said.
The elections were aborted on August 9 after chaos erupted following a dispute on how the electoral agency had hired presiding officers and their deputies. The situation prompted Prof Abdi Gulie, a member of the IEBC, to fly to Eldas and resolve the standoff so that voting could start the following day.
Vote counting moved
But chaos still rocked voting, forcing security agencies to move vote counting to Wajir town.
Eldas MP Adan Keynan. Mr Keynan has been re-elected after a fierce battle with ODM candidate Ahmed Boray.
Supporters of Mr Adan Keynan (Jubilee), the incumbent MP, and those of Dr Adan Boray (ODM) clashed for the better part of August 10.
"Chaos continued on Wednesday when our elections took place. Security agencies moved in and the process became unmanageable, forcing the vote counting to be moved to Wajir town," Mr Boray said.
The outcome of the vote counting in Wajir remained unclear, only for pictures of Mr Keynan to emerge online showing him receiving an election certificate from the constituency returning officer, Mr Bashir.
"There is no one declared MP-elect in Eldas and those reports in a section of the media are false and unfounded," Mr Boray protested.
At least two people suffered gunshot injuries during the fracas that also left a presiding officer injured.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) is investigating the shooting of the two people in Eldas constituency.
Mr Boray cited vote swapping as another cause of the chaos in the constituency.
"In places where I had scored higher, my numbers were being swapped with the low numbers of my competitor and this became the bone of contention," he said.
The Eldas parliamentary race attracted four candidates, including Mr Keynan (Jubilee), Dr Boray (ODM) and Mr Omar Hajji (UDA).
