- The physical confrontation in Tudor led to the arrest of three people; including Mvita MP Aspirant Omar Shallo and Tudor MCA aspirant Samir Bhallo.
- In Nyali, GSU officers were deployed following rising tensions between supporters of Nyali MP Mohammed Ali and Said Abdalla alias Saido of ODM.
Image: LABAN WALLOGA
Mvita and Nyali constituencies in Mombasa were on Tuesday largely affected by delays, scuffles and poor organisation as Kenyans went to vote.
Mvita constituency, which mainly consists of the Mombasa Central Business District and the island part, witnessed chaos that led to the arrest of at least three people.
The chaos erupted after UDA and ODM supporters clashed at Tudor Primary School with reports of plots of rigging.
A voter with pepper spray is said to have sprayed it on the election materials, before the UDA and ODM supporters and their candidates were sucked into the chaos.
A scuffle ensued with push and pull, and punches being exchanged before the exercise was suspended temporarily.
The physical confrontation led to the arrest of three people, among them Mvita MP aspirant Omar Shallo and Tudor MCA aspirant Samir Bhallo.
Shallo and Bhallo are UDA party candidates.
They were taken to Makupa police station.
UDA complained about the arrest of their candidate and agents, claiming the IEBC was colluding with their competitors to rig in ODM's Mvita candidate Masoud Machele.
Machele said UDA had chosen to cause chaos and disrupt voting at Tudor Primary because that was his (Machele) stronghold.
Voting had to be halted momentarily until calm returned.
Police officers were called in to quell the situation, and after about an hour, the situation normalised and paved way for voting to proceed.
Delays were witnessed at Uhuru Gardens and Mvita Primary School.
At Uhuru Gardens, polling started at around 10am, despite voters having flocked to the polling centre as early as 3am.
At around 9.15am, IEBC officials together with the police arrived at Uhuru Gardens paving way for polling which started at 10am.
Voter Agnes Kamanda from Mariakani said she arrived at 3am, but unfortunately, the process was yet to commence. She said some of her friends were disappointed and left. She chose to remain.
Another voter, Harold Odhiambo, said he was angry and disappointed by the IEBC for being slow and their disorganisation in handling the election in the Mvita constituency as a whole.
At Kaderbhouy Health Centre in Mombasa CBD, there was disorganisation of the polling process, as voters struggled to find their polling stations by themselves.
Voters were expected to find out their stations from a list pinned on a wall outside. The voters said IEBC's decision to have all polling stations in one building complicated things.
Most of the elderly could not read their names on the pinned list and had to rely on the literate to help them, as the clerks struggled controlling crowds inside the packed room.
Rains that poured in Mombasa also compounded the situation for the voters, especially those living with disabilities.
The rainfall that begun at 8am disrupted queues, with voters complaining that the IEBC failed to factor this in.
"They should have brought us tents to shelter from the rains but they didn't. We came at 5am but little has been done. And then they will say Mombasa residents are lazy," Mama Aisha said.
Another voter who only identified herself as Nyagah said she would only vote for the good-looking candidates, and reject the incumbent who didn't deliver in the last five years.
"I have favourites who are in a party that I don't like so I won't vote for them. That's why I'll vote for those who I'll see to be appealing," Nyagah said.
At around 10.30am, the rains had subsided which saw normalcy return to voting and the queues started moving faster.
In Nyali, a contingent of GSU officers were deployed following rising tensions between supporters of Nyali MP Mohammed Ali and his main competitor Said Abdalla alias Saido of ODM.
Gunshots were fired at Makaburini stage near Kongowea following what is said to be a standoff between Ali and Saido’s supporters over allegations of massive voter importation.
Police had to shoot in the air to disperse the charged supporters baying for each other’s blood.
Nyali has been adversely mentioned as one of the hotspot areas in the build-up to Tuesday’s election.
Two weeks ago, several youths sustained injuries after supporters of the two politicians clashed in Uwanja wa Mbuzi area.
This forced Coast regional commissioner John Elungata and Mombasa county commissioner John Otieno to summon the two leaders Ali and Saido for a truce.
-Edited by SKanyara