Mudavadi & Kioni to be nominated UDF MPs, Karua nominated senator

By Vitalis Kimutai

KENYA: Amani Coalition flag bearer Musalia Mudavadi and his running mate Jeremiah Kioni top list of possible nominees to Parliament.

This means the two will have a soft-landing should they fail to clinch the presidency on March 4.

And while the UDF decision could be realistic, the move is bound to be a political fodder for competitors in the race to State House. 

The development could not have come at a worse time when the UDF leader is fighting to shake off the tag of a “project or spoiler”, who is not a serious presidential candidate. ODM politicians scrambling for political space with the DPM in western Kenya have made the claims.

The law requires a political party to file its proposed nominees to the National Assembly and Senate with the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) before the General Election.

Unlike before when parties hurriedly forwarded names of nominees after the elections proportional to the seats a party had won, the new arrangement requires the exercise be done beforehand.

Nominees will be picked in order of priority in the party lists submitted.  Also on the UDF list are Muslima Dida, and Petrolina Were, UDF Chief Executive, and Kassim Sawa Ali.

Ms Martha Wangari leads the park of nominees to the Senate. Others include Nisaie Karia, Nancy Gachoka, Fatuma Hirsi, Maria Mbeneka, Emmy Chepkwony, Frida Mwadime, Susan Kairima, Jane Munene Murage, Margaret Kamonya and Fatuma Tabwara.

IEBC has given strict guidelines to ensure the slots to be filled after elections – in proportion to the seats a party wins – are reserved for special interests.

The party list will be ranked in order of priority and IEBC has directed the first three nominees must represent youth, a person with disability, and a worker.

Keep off

Not more than one nominee shall be from the same ethnic community or registered voter in the same county.

Parliament recently watered down a legal provision in the Election Act and Political Parties Act, which had sought to bar losers from being nominated to parliament of the Senate.

Meanwhile, Sabatia parliamentary aspirants have stepped up campaigns to succeed Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi.

Businessmen Alfred Agoi (UDF) and Newton Hinga (ODM) have rolled out their campaigns ahead of the March 4 General Election.

Agoi is the front-runner in the race for the seat and is banking on the support UDF enjoys in Vihiga County to win the seat.

“I am now focused on the General Election after getting UDF ticket during the nominations,” he said.

Mr Hinga said he did not fear Mudavadi’s influence and asked him to keep off the parliamentary elections.