Tension builds in Bobasi parliamentary race as rival groups clash at Nyangusu market

As the final 48 hours of the countdown to the 8 August elections, tension is rising in Bobasi constituency, with opposing groups in the parliamentary race engaging in physical fights ahead of the polls set for 8 August.

Rival youth supporters – those Jubilee Party’s Stephen Manoti and Innocent Obiri of the People’s Democratic Party – clashed at Nyangusu market, where scores of supporters for the two candidates escaped with minor injuries.

The two, touted as the two main contenders, are perceived to be in a neck-to-neck race ahead of the polls, with Manoti alleged to be enjoying state backing by virtue of his running of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ruling coalition.

A group believed to be backing Obiri is reported to have attacked their opponents at the market when they arrived at the popular market to find Manoti’s supporters holding a peaceful meeting.

“I think they were targeting specific people in our campaign team because after they disrupted our gathering, they went after particular individuals but thank God we did not get any major injuries,” said one Manoti supporter on condition of anonymity because he says he was among those targeted by the assailants.

“We are peaceful and have never attacked them even when we have passed through where they are holding their meetings but for them it is the norm because violence is their identity.

“They have recruited some chinkororo in their team because even how they dress and the kind of paraphenalia they carry with them confirms that they are part of the larger chinkororo group.”

When reached for comment, Obiri denied the attackers were his supporters, saying it was his opponents who stage-managed the attacks to blame it on him and his supporters as a way of getting sympathy votes.

It was not clear if Obiri was present during the skirmishes that lasted only a few minutes but Kurunzi established Manoti was not in the constituency at the time.

“Those are cheap and outdated political antics by people who have sensed loss in the elections which are here with us but that will not stop us from focusing on the victory that we will get come 8th,” he said.

Bobasi constituency politics has always been dominated by two main clans – Abagetaorio and Abasansa – Manoti, the incumbent is from the latter group while Obiri is from the former clan.