Why Benson Mutura disqualified from Nairobi Speaker race
The Nairobi County Assembly Speaker in the last assembly, Benson Kangara Mutura, will not be defending his seat after he was disqualified.
In a statement, Nairobi City Assembly Clerk Edward Gichana said that by the close of the application period, nine applicants had returned their forms ready for the top seat in the Assembly.
The Nairobi MCAs will have the first sitting on Thursday for the swearing-in ceremony of 124 MCAs and later proceed on voting for the speaker and deputy speaker.
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The clerk said that the technical committee reduced the names to two candidates who met the thresholds and have been cleared for the race.
According to the technical committee, Mr Mutura was disqualified for not attaching his applications with the current certificate of good conduct, but he submitted a payment receipt of the certificate.
Also, Mr Mutura failed to submit a Tax Compliant Certificate from KRA to the committee.
The Kenya Kwanza Alliance of President William Ruto had proposed Mr Mutura as their suitable candidate for the Speaker position.
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Following the concluded clearing process, Kennedy Okeyo Ng’ondi, and Hassan Robow Mohammed are the only candidates who will face off for the prestigious position.
Mr Okeyo is the former Nairobi County Assembly deputy speaker and was fronted by the ODM party of Mr Raila Odinga.
Also, the former deputy speaker will be enjoying support from the larger Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition.
Of 124 MCAs, 85 are elected, while 39 were nominated.
Here is the breakdown based on party affiliation; UDA has 35, ODM 35, Jubilee 6, Wiper 4, and CCM 1, while three are unaligned as independents.
Both the UDA party and ODM have 17 nominated MCAs.
Following the disqualification of Mr Mutura, a looming battle is expected in the Assembly as Kenya Kwanza MCAs express their dissatisfactions.
Mr Mutura joined the president’s team towards the concluded general election period.
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