There is big trouble in Wiper.
For weeks now, it has been clear that all is not well in Kalonzo Musyoka’s house. Senior members of the party have publicly complained that things are not being run properly, with Senator David Musila particularly very vocal. He quit the party after what he called a rigged nomination process.
Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama has been rumoured to also be dissatisfied with the way Kalonzo is leading the party. This was particularly when his ally Bernard Kiala was beaten by Wavinya Ndeti for the Machakos gubernatorial race.
There were complaints of malpractice forcing a repeat exercise which was carried out on Saturday. In the first nomination exercise, Wavinya Ndeti garnered 299,312 votes against Kiala’s 4,663.
Machakos governor Alfred Mutua himself stated that Wavinya’s votes were greatly inflated.
In Saturday’s repeat exercise, Wavinya trounced Kiala again by garnering 227, 947 votes against his 4,508.
Once again, there were complaints of cooking figures in Wavinya’s favour. Voting in most polling stations began at midday under heavy rains.
While Kiala says the purpose of the ‘rigging’ was to hand Wavinya the seat, some outsiders are seeing a bigger picture.
Alfred Mutua is no easy opponent to beat, and it is essential that Machakos is seen to be a Wiper zone from top to bottom. It would also be a big embarrassment for Kalonzo should Mutua be voted back. Such numbers are therefore necessary for perception purposes.
Wavinya’s win was announced on Saturday midnight, just a few hours after voting ended. To some observers, this is another red flag considering how much time other parties took to count and tally even a fraction of those votes.
Now yesterday, Muthama quit the Wiper party for among other reasons, nomination irregularities.
“Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana and CCU leader Wavinya Ndeti were given tickets while others were left to go through nominations which were marred by irregularities,” he said.
He further told reporters that ballot papers were marked at Gracia Hotel on Friday before Machakos’ repeat exercise, in favour of Wavinya Ndeti.
Well, this weekend, it so happened that a video was circulating online showing a group of people marking Wiper ballot papers. In the video, the Wiper logo plus the name ‘Governor’ is visible, but the county name is not.
The aspirants pictures are also blocked, but whatever is happening here is very suspicious.
Watch below.
This was Johnstone Muthama’s press statement after he quit the party.
