Lamu, KENYA: Violence broke out at the Lamu west tallying centre at the Mokowe arid zone primary school in Mokowe on Thursday when the returning officer Abdalla Chikophe attempted to declare MCCP’s Stanley Muthama as the new Lamu west MP elect.
It got even more dramatic when the losing candidate Rishad Amana of ODM pounced on the RO and attempted to snatch away the winner declaration form from him.
On seeing Amana coming for his neck, the poor officer fled for his dear life with police officers trying to shield him.
The RO however sustained an injury on the forehead during the scuffle and could be seen bleeding shortly after.
The returning officer however went ahead and declared t Muthama the new Lamu west MP elect albeit amidst tight security.
Muthama was seen signing his certificate flanked by heavy security who had been called in to quell the situation.
All this while,Amana who was thrown out of the hall by police was peeping from the window was cursing and swearing not to allow neither the new MP nor RO walk out alive.
The MP was however whisked away under tight police security.
Following the incident,the tallying exercise for the rest of the candidates was halted for some time.
Muthama was declared MP elect following his win of 11,090 votes against Amana’s 10,950 votes.
Amana has rejected the results saying not all polling stations have been tallied and that others had been wrongly tallied in his opponents favor.
The Lamu East MP seat has been retained by Jubilee’s Athman Shariff who garnered 4,717 against Kombo Shekuwe who managed 4,384 votes.
