•Their calls come after protests targeting IEBC.
•For days there had been protests against the commission in Ogembo (Bomachoge Chache), Itumbe, Nyamache(Bobasi), Keumbu and Menyinkwa in Nyaribari Chache.
Image: MAGATI OBEBEO
@magatinews
Democratic Party Woman Representative candidate Lucifella Gitoi and Nyaribari Masaba Kanu parliamentary candidate Hillary Nyaanga have urged Kisii residents to exercise tolerance as the country prepares for the polls.
They have urged them to give the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission the needed tranquillity to organise the election.
Their calls come after protests targeting IEBC.
For days there had been protests against the commission in Ogembo (Bomachoge Chache), Itumbe, Nyamache (Bobasi), Keumbu and Menyinkwa in Nyaribari Chache.
In Itumbe, 15 youths were taken into custody on Monday after they barricaded roads and lit bonfires.
The protesters were demanding the commission recalls the constituency returning officer over claims of meeting certain Kenya Kwanza candidates at night.
ODM governor candidate Simba Arati was fingered for funding the protests.
He however denied the charge during a press briefing at his home.
He accused his opponents of fighting him through propagandare because he was ahead of them.
“We shall win,” Arati said.
He, however, condemned the arbitrary arrests of the people who were engaged in lawful picketing and demonstrations in Itumbe to press for their rights.
In Itumbe, the protesters blocked the Kisii-Kilgoris highway forcing anti-riot police to be deployed.
“If protests are legal, genuine and peaceful, let the participants not be harassed by the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
He cited the recent Ogembo demonstrations in which the protesters were peaceful.
Speaking in Gesusu, in Masaba South Gitoi and Nyaanga termed the protests against the commission as primitive.
Gitoi said it is morally wrong for politicians to hide in the masses to target IEBC officers because of hailing from certain communities.
They called for sobriety in the campaigns saying they are players and have no role in deciding who should be their referee.
“I cannot decide who my referee should be. I can only pray and hope that this referee executes their mandate with the openness they vowed to serve with,” Gitoi said.
Nyaanga said society cannot eliminate tribe but can overcome those who want it divided over it.
He told the electorate to give the commission and its officers ample time to execute the poll with integrity.
He spoke at his Gesusu home where he met elders from Ikarango in Kiamokama.
During the meeting, he promised to finish stalled projects among them a hospital complex.
Gitoi criticised politicians for using goons to vandalise banners.
She said several of her banners were destroyed in Masimba.
“We ask security agencies to step up the surveillance and bring the culprits to book. We are using huge cash in printing these campaign materials,” she said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris