Kenya probes election scam

2007-10-17 12:29

Nairobi - Kenya's election watchdog said on Wednesday that it was investigating complaints that voters' registration cards were being bought ahead of presidential, parliamentary and council elections later in the year.

Jack Tumwa, a commissioner in the Electoral Commission of Kenya, said it was possible that both the opposition and members of the ruling party were involved in the scam to buy cards in their opponents' strongholds.

Tumwa said: "It is true that there is voter buying. If one wants to sell his birth right by selling his voter's card ... that is very, very unfortunate."

Unscrupulous politicians have in past elections bought cards or dished out cash to entice voters in the east African country, where half of the population lived in poverty.

Tumwa added: "I am not in a position to tell you whether it is the opposition or the government, but I would say ... because the complaints have come from both sides, both parties are playing a role in this."

Under Kenyan law it was a crime to possess another person's voting card.

The commision had previously said tribalism, violence and graft were rife in Kenyan politics and said the polls that were expected in December, could be a test of how far the country had come since the end of single-party rule in the early 1990s.

Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was seeking a second term in office and faced opposition from his main rivals Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, and Kalonzo Musyoka of the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya.

- Reuters