Wilson Sossion among aspirants seeking postponement of UDA primaries in Bomet over rigging claims

Former KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion who is seeking the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket for the Bomet Senator seat is among aspirants in Bomet County who now wants the party primaries exercise in the region called off.

The aspirants raised rigging claims at Tenwek High School just hours after the exercise kicked off on Thursday morning, saying it would undermine the integrity of the primaries.

“This sad event occurred at midnight and I reported to the Silipwet police station, and I confirm that police were able to impound ballot papers and ballot papers that were being transported to an unknown and insecure destination,” Sossion said.

According to Sossion, they had been able to access insecure ballot boxes and marked ballot papers at Tenwek, raising concerns over the credibility of the party primaries in the region.

“Indeed, there have been many reports of insecure ballot papers, and when we got here, to Tenwek, it was very unfortunate; even the ballot papers and boxes were not secure at all, we were able to access papers that were marked,” Sossion said.

According to Sossion, who spoke to the media early Thursday, marked ballots were discovered in some polling stations, and police from Silibwet impounded some of the ballot boxes that were being transported to an unknown location.

“The police were able to impound ballot papers and boxes that were being transported to unknown and insecure destinations. We have accessed ballot papers that are marked.”

The leaders accused the Chief Returning Officer of directing an opaque process.

"The POs had the ballot papers in their houses," said Agnes Ng'eno, an aspiring MP in the Bomet Central constituency, "and right now the returning officer is telling us that those were not genuine papers."

The aspirants issued an ultimatum to the party's National Executive Board, demanding that the matter be addressed immediately to allow for a democratic process.

 "There is nothing wrong in suspending the exercise for a few hours, a day or a week if necessary. It has been done before. Consult the party and give us an acceptable position now," Sossion added.

This comes amid an assurance from UDA Secretary-General Veronica Maina that the exercise which is being conducted across 36 counties will be free and fair.