Kenyans in eight electoral areas, including Mombasa and Kakamega counties, will today vote in what are seen as acid tests for President-elect William Ruto and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition boss Raila Odinga .
The elections were postponed on August 9—the date of the General Election—after what the elections agency said was ballot papers mix-ups. Initially supposed to be held on August 23, they were again pushed forward after the commission cited intimidation and harassment of its staff.
The elections to be held today are for the Mombasa and Kakamega governor seats as well as MP races in Kacheliba and Pokot South (West Pokot County), Rongai (Nakuru County) and Kitui Rural (Kitui County).
Also going to the polls today are voters in Nyaki West ward (North Imenti Constituency) and Kwa Njenga ward (Embakasi South Constituency).
While for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) the test will be on their systems and logistics, for Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga, the polls will be about shoring up their numbers in the National Assembly and establishing dominance in the Council of Governors.
For Mr Odinga, the Kakamega and Mombasa governor seats—currently held by his ODM deputy party leaders Wycliffe Oparanya and Hassan Joho, respectively—are essential as he seeks to stamp his dominance in the two regions.
For Dr Ruto, winning the Kacheliba, Pokot South and Rongai is critical to his bid to have a majority in National Assembly.
In Mombasa, 640,000 voters are expected to line up to pick Mr Joho’s successor.
The Kenya Kwanza and Azimio candidates will be starting off with strong backing from their home constituencies. ODM’s Abdulswamad Nassir commands votes in Mvita constituency with 118,974 registered votes while UDA’s Hassan Omar comes from Nyali which has 124,253 votes.
Others who will be contesting include Mr Hezron Awiti (VDP), William Kingi (PAA), Daniel Kitsao (Independent), Shafii Makazi (Upia) and Said Abdhalla (Usawa Kwa Wote).
Yesterday, IEBC said everything is set for the polls. Mombasa Returning Officer Swalha Yusuf warned politicians against causing violence during the exercise but assured security has been enhanced in the county.
Ms Yusuf said they have verified all ballots to ensure the names and symbols of the six candidates are in order.
“We will dispatch the poll officials to the polling stations from the tallying centres with the voting materials and security personnel to go and prepare for elections,” said Ms Yusuf.
IEBC has assured Mombasa residents that they will complete the exercise on time since they have conducted adequate civic education since August 9 to increase voter turnout.
“We witnessed very low voter turnout and many spoilt votes in the just concluded election. As a result, we conducted civic education on how to vote and the need to turn up for the exercise so we hope to have more voters’ in the Monday gubernatorial election,” said Ms Yusuf.
In Kakamega, lorry loads of officers from the General Service Unit were deployed following reports linking some politicians to a scheme to disrupt the elections. County Police Commander Joseph Kigen did not, however, name the politicians.
Police had yesterday set up road blocks on major roads, including the busy Kisumu-Kakamega highway and the Kakamega-Bungoma-Busia road.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and will deal firmly with anyone behind the schemes to disrupt the election. We will not spare anyone trying to cause violence,” Mr Kigen said.
County Returning officer Joseph Ayatah said: “We have discussed the security situation and as a commission, we are satisfied with the arrangements in place to ensure a free, transparent and credible poll in Kakamega County.”
With 844,551 voters, the Kakamega governor election is a key race for Mr Odinga, who is fielding Mr Fernandes Barasa, as Dr Ruto, who has Cleophas Malala, wants to upstage the ODM dominance in the region.
Other candidates in the race are Suleiman Sumba (Kanu), Cyrus Jirongo (UDP), Michael Osundwa (Independent), Austine Opitso (Independent) and Samwel Omukoko (MDP).
In the August 9 polls, ODM clinched nine parliamentary seats, (Lugari, Ikolomani, Mumias West, Matungu, Butere, Khwisero, Navakholo, Lurambi and Likuyani). The Musalia Mudavadi -ed Amani National Congress, which is in partnership with UDA, clinched the Malava and Shinyalu seats while DAP-K carried the day in Mumias East.
In the presidential race, Mr Odinga garnered 357,680 votes while Dr Ruto had 140,455. Dr Ruto got the highest number of votes in Malava Constituency (27,152) while Mr Odinga had 29,088 votes. In Lugari, Dr Ruto got 15,025 votes while Mr Odinga garnered 36,606 votes.
In Navakholo, Mr Odinga got 24,690 votes compared to Dr Ruto’s 14,579 votes while in Matungu, Mr Odinga carried the day with 35,136 votes compared to Dr Ruto’s 12,010.
Should the same pattern of voting play out during the election for the governor seat, then ODM will easily win.
But the hurdle for ODM is the perception voters in the region may have after Dr Ruto was declared the winner in the presidential election.
In Rongai, Dr Ruto is keen have Raymond Moi , the son of former President Daniel Moi, dethroned by UDA candidate Paul "Mamba" Chebor.
With 84,625 registered voters, Dr Ruto proved his popularity in the cosmopolitan constituency when he got 42,530 votes while Mr Odinga had 13,799.
If Mr Chebor clinches the seat, he will owe it to Dr Ruto, who commands a near fanatical following in a constituency that is dubbed the “dynasty seat” it is home to President Moi’s Kabarak home.
But it will not be a walk in the park for the UDA candidate as Mr Moi still commands a lot of respect, particularly from the non-Kalenjin communities in the region who have overwhelmingly been voting for him since 2013 because of his development record.
Chama Cha Mashinani’s Luka Kigen, a former area MP, is also in the race.
In Pokot South and Kacheliba, UDA and Kenya Union Party (KUP) will be facing off. Already UDA has bagged the governor and the senator seats, and nine ward reps. The party also won the Kapenguria and Sigor parliamentary seats. KUP only managed to secure the Woman Rep seat.
Political pundits say it will be an uphill task for KUP to win more seats since its candidates are seen as rebels fighting Dr Ruto.
In Pokot South, the UDA candidate is former West Pokot County Assembly Majority Leader Simon Kalekem, who will face off with incumbent David Pkosing of KUP. Also in the race is former Principal Secretary James Tekoo who is contesting as an independent candidate.
In Kacheliba, incumbent Mark Lomunokol is contesting on a UDA ticket in a race that also has former West Pokot Deputy Governor Titus Lotee of KUP and John Lodinyo of Kanu.
Reporting by Benson Amadala, Anthony Kitimo, Winnie Atieno, Francis Mureithi and Oscar Kakai
