Waiguru Cries Foul Over ‘Strange’ Ballot Boxes

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate demanded that the counting process be stopped immediately

Anne Waiguru, the governor of Kirinyaga, has raised concerns about two ballot boxes alleged to have been snuck into the tallying centre.

In a statement dated Wednesday, August 10, Waiguru claimed that two packed ballot boxes were smuggled into a tallying centre during the vote-counting process. 

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate demanded that the counting process be stopped immediately until she was assured that it would be free, fair, and verifiable. 

“Rigging in broad daylight. Two ballot boxes with governors’ ballots enter Kianyaga through the back door in broad daylight! They must be removed and counting must stop,” Waiguru stated.

The governor continued by posting images of the two voting containers she said were being used to transport the bundled ballots with serial numbers 4411729 and 4189755. 

Her claims came just a few days after she complained to the IEBC about how the ballots from Kirinyaga county were transferred to Kakamega.

“Since our ballot papers are in Kakamega and we are told there was no exact number per polling station, why didn’t IEBC notice the shortfall? Where are those ballots as we speak?” Waiguru posed.

Waiguru further alleged that there were efforts to harass local voters in an attempt to reduce the number of ballots cast for William Ruto, the UDA’s presidential candidate. 

On August 8, the IEBC Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, declared that the Kakamega governorship election had been postponed due to a printing error on the ballot papers. 

The vote papers had Charles Kibiru, Anne Waiguru, and Purity Ngirici as the candidates’ portraits rather than those of Fernandes Barasa, Cleophas Malala, and Cyrus Jirongo.