Normalcy in Machakos has resumed hours after the voting exercise was concluded and vote tallying kicked off.
The voting exercise in all the polling centers in the eight constituencies was concluded with no major incidences of insecurity and irregularities witnessed.
A spot check revealed that most Export Processing Zone (EPZ) companies had thousands of workers flocking in even as most Small Business Enterprises slowly resumed operations.
“We had to resume work given that we are paid on casual basis and failing to report to work can be very costly to me and my young family,” said Tina Mwikali who works at a garment manufacturing firm in the processing zone.
Ms. Mwikali who is a single mother of two and earns Sh500 a day said that she needs school fees for her first-born son who is in grade two.
Michael Mutua who operates a barbershop in Makadara town in Athi River said that he had to open his business by 6am to attend to a client who was going for an interview in Thika.
On Tuesday, most businesses in Machakos town closed early following the government’s directive to individuals to vote and go home and that bars and clubs should remain closed to give people time to vote.
The tallying exercise for the gubernatorial seat for the eight constituencies in Machakos is yet to be concluded and the results relayed to the county tallying center at Machakos Academy for final transmission to the National tallying center at the Bomas of Kenya.
Machakos which has a total of 687, 541 registered voters saw a large number of voters flock various polling stations on Tuesday from as early as 5am and others still voting past the stipulated hours.
According to Machakos County Police Commander, Issa Muhammud, the exercise was smooth, peaceful and orderly.
“The voting exercise went on very well without any hitches. We are remaining with counting and tallying,” said Mahammud adding that the voters are civilized
The County Police Commander however said that the county, which had deployed over 3,000 police officers, had to beef up security in Mulolongo area of Athi River, Mavoko constituency.
This he said was necessitated by the fact that incidences of insecurity were witnessed in Mulolongo area during the 2017 General Election hence they did not want a repeat of the same.
“Mulolongo is a Cosmopolitan town which has a total of 31, 000 voters and lots of polling stations. In addition, Athi river town is close to Nairobi and that’s why I spent the whole day there doing surveillance,” said Muhammud.
The tallying is being conducted at all the eight constituency-tallying centers and the results expected to be transmitted to the county tallying center in Machakos academy.
By Rachael Kilonzo
