![Rashid Echesa on Thursday, March 4 slapped an IEBC presiding officer in Matungu. [PHOTO: ABEL AMALA | K24 DIGITAL]](https://i0.wp.com/www.k24tv.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2021-03-04-at-9.04.29-AM.jpg?resize=730%2C414&ssl=1)
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa is a wanted man after he was video-taped slapping an IEBC official on Thursday morning.
A contingent of police officers surrounded the former minister’s home in Shibale, Mumias Central in Kakamega County, with the aim of capturing the assault suspect.
Authorities believe Echesa fled to his home shortly after physically attacking an election official.
Echesa on Thursday, March 4, slapped an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) presiding officer after the electoral agency’s representative blocked a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) polling agent from entering a polling venue.
The incident happened at Bulonga Primary School, where voting for the Matungu parliamentary seat was ongoing.
Echesa was angered that Peter Okura, the IEBC representative, stopped one of UDA’s agents from entering the polling venue because he (agent) had not met all the criteria allowed to access the venue. According to Okura, he did not allow the agent in because he had “refused to wear a facemask”.
A video capturing the moment when Echesa slapped the officer, shows the former minister pulling Okura’s facemask and landing a slap on his face, while shouting “who told you to bar the agent from accessing the polling venue?”
Echesa is one of the local politicians supporting UDA candidate in the Matungu parliamentary race, Alex Lanya.
Other candidates in the Matungu by-election are David Were of ODM and Peter Nabulindo of Amani National Congress (ANC).
The Matungu MP seat fell vacant following the death of holder Justus Murunga on November 14, 2020.
-Additional reporting by Abel Amala-
