Isiolo leaders have raised an alarm over alleged mass importation of voters from the neighbouring Meru County.
Isiolo County Assembly speaker Mohamed Tupi has warned that there is a plot to transfer at least 30,000 voters from Meru County with an aim to alter the voting patterns in Isiolo hence take over the County leadership.
Mr Tupi said that some of the people visiting voter registration centres to either register as new voters or transfer their votes in Isiolo are not even aware of the name of the polling station they wish to vote in during the coming August general elections.
He said that the most affected area is Isiolo Township which comprises of Wabera and Bulapesa wards. He linked the efforts to transfer voters in large numbers to the ongoing boundary dispute between the two counties.
Mr Tupi alleged that the target could be the gubernatorial seat in order to enable Meru County to have their way in the ongoing boundary dispute. He alleged that the people of Isiolo have been sidelined by successive regimes regarding the boundary dispute, probably due to their sparse population.
Mr Tupi called upon the IEBC and the National Security Agencies to act on the matter swiftly, warning that it could result to chaos during and after the elections.
Isiolo North Constituency Elections Cordinator Wario Ibrahim Ali said that so far, the registration exercise was progressing well with 2,612 new voters being registered and 1,414 voters transferring their votes to various polling stations.
Mr Wario reiterated that no Kenyan could be denied the right to either register or transfer their vote as long as they present themselves in person and with an original Identity cards to the constituency IEBC office. He said that the commission needed the input by politicians to turn up in large numbers and register as voters but was against what he termed as mass voter importation across counties by the same politicians.
Wabera ward MCA Salesio Kiambi raised issues with some voter registration clerks whom he accused of misleading ignorant members of the public seeking to register as voters in particular polling stations. He claimed that some applicants had raised complaints that they had been registered to vote in polling stations that they did not choose.
He said the clerks ought to direct the applicants accordingly in order to minimize cases of voter apathy as the victims have already vowed not to vote unless the commission rectifies the errors.
Mr Kiambi also warned members of public to desist from taking bribes to transfer their votes in favour of particular politicians. He claimed that some people were giving out Kshs 500 to poor Kenyans to transfer their votes especially from Wabera ward to the neighbouring Bulapesa ward.
