Uhuru and Raila tyranny of numbers

Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) and President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta (right) shared the two Maasai counties of Narok and Kajiado almost on a fifty-fifty basis. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By PETER LEFTIE pmutibo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, March 14  2013 at  22:30

 

A decisive win in Kiambu County coupled with an impressive showing in some perceived Cord strongholds may have handed Uhuru Kenyatta victory over his rival Raila Odinga in the March 4 presidential election.

Election results released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) indicate that Mr Kenyatta’s massive 705,185 votes haul in Kiambu county easily cancelled out Mr Odinga’s two strongholds of Kisumu and Homa Bay, doing substantial damage to the Prime Minister’s chances of winning.

The figures indicate that Mr Odinga got 337,232 votes in Kisumu county and 303,447 in Homa Bay, totalling 640,676, below Mr Kenyatta’s haul in Kiambu alone.

A clean sweep

Matters for Mr Odinga were further complicated by Amani coalition’s Musalia Mudavadi, who split the Western Province vote to the PM’s disadvantage.

In Kakamega County for instance, Mr Mudavadi bagged 144,962 votes against Mr Odinga’s 303,120, while in Vihiga, the former polled 82,426 votes against the PM’s 77,826.

In Bungoma county, Mr Mudavadi scored 107,868 votes against Mr Odinga’s 185,419.

The figures indicate that Mr Odinga fought hard to deny Mr Kenyatta a clean sweep in perceived Jubilee strongholds such as Trans Nzoia and Uasin Gishu.

In Trans Nzoia, Mr Odinga pulled an upset, getting 92,035 votes against Mr Kenyatta’s 74,466 while in Uasin Gishu, Mr Odinga managed 60,060 votes against Mr Kenyatta’s 211,438.

Uasin Gishu is the home county of Mr Kenyatta’s running mate, Mr William Ruto.

Mr Kenyatta also fought hard to deny Mr Odinga a clean sweep in the latter’s perceived strongholds of Kisii and Nyamira counties.

The Jubilee candidate scored 54,071 votes in Nyamira against Mr Odinga’s 121,590 votes, while in Kisii, he bagged 95,596 votes against Mr Odinga’s 236,831.

Mr Kenyatta swept Mandera County, hitherto perceived as a Cord stronghold, bagging 94,433 against Mr Odinga’s 4,366 votes.

The two candidates shared the two Maasai counties of Narok and Kajiado almost on a fifty-fifty basis, with Mr Odinga carrying the day in the former with 118,623 votes against his rival’s 109,413.

Mr Kenyatta turned the tables on Mr Odinga in Kajiado where he bagged 138,851 votes against the PM’s 117,856.

Naivasha (98,182), Westlands (98,391) and Ruiru (94,666) registered the highest voter turnout across the entire country.

Kajiado North registered 83,451 voters translating into 82 per cent of the registered voters, Kiharu had 83,320, a massive 94 per cent of the registered voters and Kisumu Central registered 82,119 or 86 per cent of the registered voters.

Generally, constituencies in Coast, North Eastern and Upper Eastern regions performed dismally.

For instance, Garissa Township which registered the highest numbers in Garissa county could only manage a paltry 23,272 votes, while Samburu West constituency led in Samburu County with 24,412 votes.

Wajir South had the highest turnout in Wajir County with only 24,911 voters.

Performed better

Garsen constituency only registered 25,222 votes, constituting 80 per cent of the registered voters, the highest in the county, while Turkana Central led in Turkana County with only 25,618 voters.

Constituencies in Central Province generally performed better than the rest of the country with Kinangop in Nyandarua County registering a turnout of 81,125 followed by Mwea in Kirinyaga County with 78,128 and Kieni in Nyeri County with 75,213 voters.

The average turnout in Kirinyaga and Nyeri counties was 91 per cent and 93 per cent, respectively.

Other constituencies that did well by way of voter turnout include Laikipia West (75,500), newly created Turbo constituency in Uasin Gishu County (73,434), Imenti South (69,982), Alego Usonga (67,352) and Machakos Town (67,104).

In Mombasa County, Mvita constituency had the highest voter turnout with 59,440, constituting 71 per cent of the registered voters while Kinango led in Kwale County with 38,037 voters, translating into 74 per cent of the registered voters turning out to pick their leaders.

In Kilifi, the highest voter turnout was witnessed in the new Kilifi North constituency with 39,732 voters turning out to vote, constituting a low 58 per cent of the registered voters while Lamu West constituency led in Lamu County with 32,108 voters or 89 per cent of the registered voters.

Taita Taveta County had some of the lowest figures with the leading constituency, Voi, managing only 29,642 voters.

Other big turnouts were witnessed in constituencies such as Manyatta in Embu County (65,089), Kanduyi in Bungoma County (63,839), Malava in Kakamega County (55,484), Bureti in Kericho County (58,063), Kitutu Masaba in Nyamira County (63,600) and Bobasi in Kisii County (57,214).