Tuesday, 12 March 2013

OBAMA'S HALF-BROTHER ACCUSES IEBC

US President Barack Obama (right) and his elder brother Malik Obama in a photograph taken at the White House.
US President Barack Obama (right) and his elder brother Malik Obama in a photograph taken at the White House.

The half-brother of United States President Barack Obama has accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of concealing official results of the Siaya governorship race. Malik Obama contested for the seat and finished third with 2792 votes. He accused the commission of being reluctant to release results from every polling station in the county. He said the county's Returning Officer Benson Mugatsia had only released a summary of results per constituency instead of results from polling stations.
“Those results should be made available to the public and the candidates. They are telling me to contact my agents, but I didn’t have agents in every single polling station in the county,” he said.
The refusal to release the results, according to Mr. Obama, throws suspicion on the transparency of the election and needs to be investigated. The refusal to release the results, according to Mr. Obama, throws suspicion on the transparency of the election and needs to be investigated. When contacted by Nation, the Returning Officer said that he had referred Mr. Obama to the constituency Returning Officers for the results.

“I took the results given to me by the constituency returning officers to Nairobi and that is why I referred him to the constituency ROs. I don’t have those results with me,” he explained. Mr. Obama said he is still pondering on ways to compel IEBC to release the results from each polling station.
“Right now I am still raising public awareness so that those who may need the same information may join hands with me,” he added.

By GODFREY OMBOGO

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