Woman gives birth at polling station

A woman in West Pokot County gave birth at a polling station on August 8, 2017. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Mr Lokor said the delivery was safe and the child was named Hellen Chepkura, which means elections.

A woman gave birth at a polling station in West Pokot County while another had a miscarriage.

The middle-aged woman gave birth while queuing for more than three hours at Konyau Mixed Secondary School polling station in North Pokot Sub County.

VOTE FIRST

According to Kapchok MCA Peter Lokor, the woman experienced labour pains on the queue and declined to be rushed to Konyau dispensary to be attended to.

Instead, she insisted on voting first.

"Let me vote before rushing me to the hospital. This is my democratic right," she said.

FUNNY NAME

But she gave birth before she was able to cast her ballot.

Mr Lokor said the delivery was safe and the child was named Hellen Chepkura, which means elections.

LABOUR PAINS

But the same cannot be said of another woman who had a miscarriage

The 33-year-old was queuing at Kuwit polling centre when she started having labour pains under the blistering heat.

But her complains, Mr Lokor said, were brushed off.

MISCARRIAGE

Nonetheless, she was able to vote but later when she went to a health facility, the MCA added, she was told she had a miscarriage, also known as late foetal loss.

Ms Selina Chepuray, a resident, said that most mothers in the region experience premature deliveries due to lack of food.

"This area faces so many challenges; women are forced to walk long distances searching for food and water. This has resulted to expectant mothers to miscarry," she said.

PASTORALISTS

At the same time, a spot check by the Nation indicatedthat most of the pastoralists who had migrated in search of pasture in other regions had retuned and most took part in the exercise.

"I had migrated to Uganda in search of pasture for my animals but I decided to come back and vote since it's my democratic right. I want to elect my own leaders," a herder said.