Teso North Member of Parliament candidate on an ODM ticket Lawi Mamai has protested an incident on Wednesday when the General Service Unit pulled down his banner a few hours before President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived for his campaign rally at Amagoro Primary School Grounds.
Speaking on phone, Mamai said the action by the GSU officers to pull down his banner mounted in his Amagoro Centre office was “barbaric”.
“I am seeing this as a plot by my opponent to use security agencies to intimidate NASA supporters. The same officers also harassed people at the nearby library and forced them to attend the rally. The police also forced an ODM member Peter Ipara to vacate the rally venue. We cannot allow some opponents to use security agencies to intimidate our people,” he said.
Mamai said attending any rally is voluntary but people should not be coarsed to do so, adding that the culture of forcing people to attend rallies passed with the old constitution.
“In any case, the rally was a political meeting and not a government function. Such intimidation is making people want a change of leadership in the country,” he said.
The MP candidate said he is getting all information on what transpired during the President’s rally before forwarding a formal complaint to the Independent and Electoral Boundary Commission.
“The incident will not scare me in my pursuit to capture the seat. I am 100 percent sure of winning the seat from my Jubilee candidate Arthur Odera whom I am daring for a bruising battle,” he said.
Efforts to get comments from Teso North OCPD Onesmas Kombe were fruitless as his phone went unanswered.