Machakos County gubernatorial election, 2017

Machakos gubernatorial election, 2017

August 8, 2017 (2017-08-08)
627,168 registered voters Simple Majority votes needed to win
incumbent Nominee Wavinya Ndeti Alfred Mutua Bernard Kiala Party Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya Maendeleo Chap Chap Party Independent (Politician) Alliance NASA Jubilee Running mate Peter Mathuki Eng. Francis Maliti Eve Mutulu
Governor before election Alfred Mutua Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya Elected Governor Alfred Mutua TBD

The 2017 Machakos gubernatorial election will take place on 8 August 2017, to elect the Governor and Deputy Governor of Machakos, concurrently with Machakos Senator to the Senate as other Counties and Machakos MPs to the Kenya National Assembly and Elections of County Assembly MCAs.

Nomination of Candidates

Incumbent Governor Alfred Mutua won election the 2013 elections on Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya but he decamped to his own Maendeleo Chap Chap in 2015. Machakos, like most counties, holds primary elections for Governor then the winners pick their own running mates.^[1] Incumbent Governor Mutua dropped his deputy Bernard Kiala who decided to remain in Wiper Democratic Movement party. Alfred Mutua replaced his Francis Maliti in the defense of his final term as Governor.

The elections saw the rise of Wavinya Ndeti who rose from an underdog (in the beginning of the year) to favourite to win the elections in August 8. In a coalition deal between Chama Cha Uzalendo and Kalonzo-led Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya Ms Ndeti for the first time since in 2007 Made a return to the party which is most popular in the County.

In the deal, Former Chama Cha Uzalendo was to resign from her party and join Wiper Party before the party hoping window elapsed on 5 April 2017. Wavinya Ndeti announced resignation from Chama Cha Uzalendo on the deadline day and became a registered member of the Wiper Democratic Movement Kenya, through writing copied to the CCU secretary General and Registrar of Political Parties (Kenya).^[2]

Incumbent Deputy Governor cried foul on entry of Wavinya Ndeti in to the umbrella party and insisted the party should hold Primaries as opposed to Direct Nomination. Wiper Democratic Movement Kenya National election board orignised nomination exercise that saw a landslide wind for Wavinya Ndeti.

Political parties tribunal on Nominations Nullified the results and called for a fresh nominations which produced identical results. Bernard Kiala who was the sole challenger resigned from Wiper democratic Movement Kenya and decided to go as an independent candidate.

Wavinya Ndeti Picked Peter Mathuki as running mate. Wavinya candidature for the Gubernatorial on Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya didn’t go well with former Spokesman of the party Sen. Johnstone Muthama. As a protest Muthama Decided to quit the race to defend his seat in the senate terming a win for either Alfred Mutua or Wavinya Ndeti would make no change.

On June 8 IEBC Tribunal Chaired by Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati nullified the candidature of Wavinya Ndeti citing she was a member of two political parties. In a rejoinder the Registrar of political parties Lucy Ndung’u regreted the decision saying that according to her database Wavinya is in the register of Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya. IEBC tribunal cited they relied heavily on the affidavit from the office of the Registrar of Political Parties.

High Court Judge George Odunga stayed the decision and directed IEBC not to remove Wavinya Ndeti’s Name from the Ballot faulting the manner at which the tribunal arrived at the decision.^[3]

References