OMORO: Opposition have accused security agencies of “openly” interfering in the Omoro parliamentary election through massive bribery and illegal arrests.
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga, National Unity Platform (NUP) and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) officials claimed that security officials began with arresting their candidates’ supporters early in the morning and then changed to bribery.
“With less than an hour to close of polling, the arrests have stopped. They have resorted to massive bribery. Two of our polling agents at Te-Cwa in Omoro T/C and Odek P7 Sch in Odek S/C have turned down an offer of 150,000/= & 300,000/= respectively to move away from the polling station,” Mpuuga tweeted at around 3:00 p.m on Thursday, May 26, 2022.
NUP secretary general Lewis Rubongoya said State operatives spent Wednesday night traversing Omoro in vehicles with covered number plates distributing sugar and soap, while intimidating supporters of their candidate. “Yesterday, they went around confiscating red t-shirts, replacing them with theirs,” he said.
“The same regime which claimed to be popular in Omoro is now in overdrive arresting our supervisors and polling agents! They failed to ballot stuff early morning because we deployed, so they’ve resorted to picking up our agents so they can have a field day ballot stuffing,” he added.
Patrick Amuriat Oboi, the opposition FDC President on Wednesday night alleged that security operatives raided their office and destroyed several items in addition to arresting party agents. “This is something that has severely affected our operations,” Amuriat said.
Amuriat castigated security forces for what he described as “harassment on FDC supporters of party candidate Justine Odong”.
This came as Police in Omoro District confirmed the arrest of Chua West MP, PP Okin Ojara and four others over allegations of attempting to disrupt a by-election to elect a lawmaker in Omoro County today.
The Aswa River Region police spokesman David Ongom Mudong confirmed; “the arrests are meant to curtail saboteurs whose intentions are to disrupt the voting exercise.”
The voting was marred by low turnout, with many places unable to to reach 50% turn out of registered voters.
More details will follow as results trickle.
