Race for Speaker heats up as ODM nominates former Deputy Speaker Ken Ngondi
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party has nominated former Nairobi County Assembly Deputy Speaker Ken Ngondi for the position of Speaker.
Mr Ngondi shelved his political ambitions of running for the Embakasi South Parliamentary seat in favour of the Mr Julius Mawathe of the Wiper Party.
The nominee said that he was ready to take up the job as he believed that he was the most suitable person to run for the office of the Nairobi County speaker.
“I also wish to request your support from all Azimio Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) because this is a position that we must all agree that we want to take Nairobi forward and I think everyone is open to the task and having acted as deputy speaker, I know I’m ripe for the task,” he said.
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The politician served as a deputy Speaker under the late Alex ole Magelo between 2013- 2017 and the time he was the Kware Ward MCA.
He will be battling it out with Wangoro Mwangi who has been nominated by the Jubilee Party.
The office of the Speaker is recognized in section 31 of the Constitution Act. The Speaker is described as the Legislative Assembly’s “independent and impartial representative”.
Pursuant Article 178(1) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides that each County Assembly shall have a Speaker elected from among persons who are not Members of the County Assembly.
In the just concluded election, the Azimio la Umoja Coalition which is led by Raila Odinga got the following seats within Nairobi County; Jubilee got six positions, ODM got 35 positions while Wiper Party managed to get four positions.
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On the other hand, Kenya Kwanza led by DP Ruto scored, UDA (35), and Chama cha Kazi (I). There were only two candidates elected on independent tickets.
Mr Ngodi’s name has been severally mentioned whenever it comes to who should be the Nairobi County Speaker.
In 2020, Deputy Clerk Pauline Akuku shortlisted his name as the most suitable candidate who would take over from Ms Beatrice Elachi who was impeached by members of the county assembly.
The educational requirement for the speaker position is a post-secondary school qualification recognized in Kenya according to Section 22 (1) of the Elections Act 2011.
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