On Wednesday, residents of Bonchari had to throw out a local chief from a public baraza in the constiuency after openly campaigning on Jubilee Party candidate Zebedeo Opore.
The Bonchari by-election is pitting ODM Party against its handshake partner Jubilee, in a duel that has seen Interior CS Fed Matiangi and Kisii Governor James Ongwae teams go at each other
In a clip that has since gone viral, the local chief is seen telling members of the public Mr. Opore is the government’s candidate and that ODM and UDA aspirants are not allowed to campaign in the constituency.
On Monday, the government charged 15 UDA supporters for holding illegal political meetings, after they were rounded up campaigning for their party’s candidate Teresa Bitutu. The group was arrested on Sunday afternoon at St Angelic Teachers College in Suneka town while attending a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) campaign meeting.
Last month, ODM rejected a request from Jubilee Party to have it withdraw its candidate Peivel Oimeke from the forthcoming by-election. This has in turn created animosity between the camps in the constituency.
“Nonetheless, ODM is a national party. We had more or less agreed that we don’t field a candidate where either Jubilee or ODM has a strong following,” ODM Treasurer Timothy Bosire said last month.
