Makueni County: Chaos erupted in Makindu town when supporters of Kibwezi West parliamentary candidates Kalembe Ndile and Patrick Musimba clashed.
On a day the candidates were supposed to be winding down their campaigns, they chose to hold rallies at the same venue, triggering a fracas that brought the whole town to a standstill.
Hell broke loose when Kalembe, who claims to have booked the venue, made a stopover in the town to address his supporters only to find Musimba holding his own rally.
Ndile however, decided to go on with his rally, but was forced to cut it short when supporters of both candidates engaged in thunderous chants for their respective candidates.
The supporters then became rowdy as the chants escalated into a fight, throwing stones at each other.
Musimba and Ndile were caught up in the melee, with Musimba sustaining slight injuries when he was hit in the face, while Ndile was quickly whisked away from the scene. One person was also hurt during the fracas.
Police officers were forced to fire in the air several times to disperse the warring factions.
Disorganise
Kalembe accused Musimba of deliberately trying to disorganise his campaigns, saying he had booked the venue earlier and that he (Musimba) should have left when his (Kalembe’s) team arrived.
Musimba refused to talk about the incident, but his supporters accused Kalembe of orchestrating the fracas arguing he should have taken his campaign elsewhere when he found Musimba midway through his rally.
Makindu OCPD Joseph Omijah said no one has been arrested in connection with the incident, but said a file has been opened into the incident with investigations launched.
He said police would not wish to appear to demonise one camp, but those who caused the fracas will be arrested and brought to book even after the by-election slated for on Thursday.
Omijah called for peace during the election, saying the police will be vigilant on voting day and warned those who may be planning to compromise the election that police will “not sit and watch things get out of hand”.
By ONESMUS NZIOKA, The Standard
