Groups fight over new boundaries

A public meeting on electoral boundaries was on Tuesday temporarily halted as residents fought over the size of a constituency.

Residents of Lagdera constituency exchanged blows over a proposal on whether or not to split the area.

Drama unfolded after the local peace chairman, Mr Osman Ibrahim, supported the commission’s proposed boundary that placed ShantaAbaq division in Lagdera constituency following the creation of the new Dadaab constituency.

Tempers flared as residents of ShantaAbaq confronted the peace chairman, who was presenting his views before the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) at the Garissa National Library.

Police officers moved in as rival camps exchanged blows. The chairman was taken to a safe place. The incident forced the commission to temporarily suspend the hearing.

However, calm was restored after commission chairman Mohamed Hussein Alwy pleaded with the public to accommodate all views presented before the commission.

Several speakers, including MPs from Dujis, Fafi and Ijara protested that county wards boundaries were erroneously carved out, merged and some scrapped and demanded more county wards. (READ: Report spells out size of county assemblies)

In Isiolo, demands for more wards dominated public hearings in a meeting with IEBC as communities threatened court action if their proposals were not considered.

They demanded that the commission creates extra wards by considering cultural ties and community interests.

This was based on claims that tribal clashes that had rocked Isiolo in the past were politically instigated and there was wrangling over poor representation in the local council.

Isiolo South MP Abdibahari Ali urged the IEBC to reverse the transfer of three locations to Lagdera constituency in Garissa County by the Ligale commission.

“This issue of illegal hiving off of locations from one area to another without due process is a frontier that will attract court battles. Correct this irregularity,” said Mr Ali.

In Isiolo North, community representatives demanded an extra constituency to be called Merti and an extra ward. They also called for the scrapping of Kipsing ward.

And in Webuye, supporters of local MP Alfred Sambu and nominated MP Musikari Kombo clashed over a proposal to split the constituency.

At the Webuye Municipal Council Hall on Monday, the two groups disagreed over the name of the new constituency and its boundaries.

Issues of clannism, natural resources and geographical terrain took centre stage during deliberations.

The constituency is dominated by the Bukusu community with the Tachoni group complaining of being marginalised. Sambu is a Tachoni while Kombo is a Bukusu.

There was heavy police presence in the hall to calm tempers. The pro-Sambu group wants the new constituency called Bokoli but the Kombo camp has rejected it.

The Kombo group also wants the area split into Ndivisi and Webuye constituencies an issue the area MP and his supporters are opposed to, saying the division would be ethnically motivated.

By Erick Ngobilo, Issa Hussein and Hassan Huka