4 August 2010

Nairobi — Voting was delayed in Garsen when a boat ferrying ballot papers and other voting materials sank in River Tana on Wednesday.

The electoral commission sent rescue vessels after the dugout canoe, the main means of crossing the crocodile-infested River Tana, started sinking.

Earlier reports had indicated the boat had capsized -- claims the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) denied. "Another boat was sent to the rescue. The materials have been delivered safely to all parts of the constituency," IIEC chairman Issack Hassan said.

The four polling clerks and two returning officers travelling in the boat were not injured, Coast provincial police officer Leo Nyongesa said. Two armed policemen aboard the canoe clung to their weapons in the near-drowning incident.

At Wendani polling station, Galole constituency, balloting had not started six hours after the official time. Mr Hassan told the Press at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, that heavy rains were to blame but that voting time was extended beyond the 5pm deadline.

At the Marafa polling station in Magarini, a district commissioner was turned away due to anomalies in his identification documents. Constituencies in urban centres were busy from as early as 6am when the polling centres opened.

Coast province has 992,328 registered voters -- 662,365 in South West Coast and 329,958 in North Coast -- who were expected to troop to the 1,621 polling centres in the region's 21 constituencies.

At the Shika Adabu polling station in Likoni, a photojournalist almost came to blows with a polling official after being stopped from taking pictures of MP Masoud Mwahima, who was voting at the time.

Heavy morning rains affected polling in Lamu West. Voting at the constituency with 28,857 registered voters resumed when it stopped raining at 7.30am.

In Galole constituency, which has 19,200 voters registered in 77 polling stations, voting took off slowly. Most of the voters are herdsmen, who live in the hinterland and have to trek long distances to the polling centres.

Area IIEC coordinator Hannington Kombe said that security personnel had been deployed in hot spots such as Woldena and Chifiri. Area police boss Iregi Ngatia said security officers from the National Youth Service, regular and Administration police were sent to watch over polling stations in the area.

In Magarini, voting started at 6am, but with a low turnout. Magarini has 36,698 registered voters. Area MP Amason Kingi, who voted at Majenjeni, expressed concern that some voters were turned away as their IDs had anomalies.

Msambweni constituency with 68,611 voters and 162 polling stations, recorded a big turnout. By 7am most polling stations had long queues. Voting, however, was swift. At Ukunda's Diani Dispensary polling station, the exercise was fast, as officials in six polling units easily handled the numbers.

Reported by Hassan Barisa, Mathias Ringa, Abdulrahman Sheriff, Galgalo Bocha, Walter Menya and Mazera Ndurya