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Kenya: Kajiado North Tops Bribery List
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The Nation (Nairobi)
24 April 2008
Posted to the web 24 April 2008
Muchemi Wachira
Nairobi
Kajiado North was the leading constituency in cases of voter bribery, a report says.
At least 20,190 voters out of more than 60,000 received Sh200 each from one parliamentary candidate alone. And this was within a period of 30 days, according to the report released by the Coalition for Accountable Political Financing (CAPF). Another candidate used the same amount to bribe 17,235 voters.
In total, the report released Wednesday says, parliamentary candidates may have spent between Sh3 and Sh7 million as cash handouts to voters.
The constituency is represented by Internal Security minister George Saitoti. Prof Saitoti of PNU was facing a big challenge from ODM's Moses ole Sakuda.
Dr Charles Otieno of CAPF presented the report titled "Campaign Monitoring Finance and Corruption for 2007 General Elections."
The money that voters got, Dr Otieno said, was meant to influence them to vote for the candidate dishing out the cash.
Kajiado North is not in isolation. This was the same method used by a candidate in Lang'ata, which is represented by Prime Minister Raila Odinga. His main challenger was PNU's Stanley Livondo.
The report says that 19,159 voters were given Sh200 each to vote for one of the candidates. And this was also only within a period of 30 days.
Dr Otieno said more money could have been used to bribe voters because some candidates started their campaigns early.
Others constituencies where large sums of money were used to bribe voters, the report says, are Kiambaa, Juja, Ugenya, Keiyo South, Rongo and Kitui Central.
In Kiambaa, represented by Stanley Githunguri of Kanu, one candidate bribed 17,621 voters by giving them Sh200 each. Another candidate bribed 17,034.
Main opponent
Mr Githunguri's main opponent was Mr Njenga Karume, a former minister.
In Juja, one candidate gave Sh200 to 18,220 voters, while one of his opponents bribed another 11,400 voters.
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Government Chief Whip George Thuo is the MP for the constituency. During the campaigns, his main rival was William Kabogo who was the outgoing MP.
Eleven other constituencies were listed in the report as among those where candidates spent a lot of money bribing voters.
They are Budalang'i, Webuye, Nyaribari Masaba, Baringo Central, Mvita, Makadara, Starehe, Muhoroni, Westlands, Gem and Kisumu East.
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