West Pokot Woman representative Regina Nyeris claims that her life is in danger after she ditched Jubilee and joined Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM). Nyeris cited that politics in West Pokot has turned into a witchhunt and now she fears for her life. The legislator has now asked the government to provide her with maximum security during the campaign period.
Speaking to the press at Mtello hall after being cleared to defend her seat by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Mrs Nyeris said since she joined CCM, her opponents have plans to sabotage her re-election ahead of the August elections.
Nyeris said she moved from Jubilee because she had sensed plans to rig her out before the nominations and she had a democratic right to join a party of her choice. “All thIs mistreatment, even up to the IEBC offices, is because I ditched Jubilee and joined NASA. Jubilee nominations were chaotic and I wasn’t impressed with how they were conducted that is why I had to move out,” she said.
Nyeris noted that the maize donation which was made by NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga to hunger-stricken families during his rally last week in West Pokot had been politicized, “Raila donated 200 bags of maize but thieves broke into the store and stole the maize, this has been twisted to politics,” she noted “I went to record a statement at the police station but I was barred from recording anything concerning how the maize got lost. I had to force police officers to allow me to record the statement,” she said.
Nyeris expressed her dissatisfaction with how IEBC handled her when she was presenting her papers for clearance and affirmed that something fishy was going on between IEBC and some Jubilee leaders within the County.
She lamented that her life and work have gone through hurdles and said there are people behind all this, indicating that she will record a statement in the police station regarding the same.
The West Pokot IEBC returning officer John Mwangi said since the clearance exercise began 12 aspirants have been cleared, 10 women and 2 senatorial nominees. He pointed out that the candidates had experienced a lot of challenges and some couldn’t meet all the requirements set by the electoral body, “Some aspirants turned up without all the documents, some had spelling mistakes on their documents and that’s why they had to go through their papers again,” he said, “Some complained but rules and regulations had to be followed.”
Today, Governor Simon Kachapin and Senator John Lonyangapuo are expected to present their papers today.
