Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter to defend seat as independent candidate

Nandi Hills Member of Parliament Alfred Keter will now defend his seat as an independent candidate in the August General Elections.

This comes following tribulations the lawmaker says he recently faced during the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party primaries.

“I am officially an independent candidate. May the will of the people of Nandi Hills prevail come August 9th. Happy Holidays everyone!!” Keter wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

Keter was initially announced the winner of the April 19 nominations but was not awarded the certificate, only for his victory to later be nullified by the Deputy President William Ruto-led party.

UDA’s Electoral and Nominations Dispute Resolution Committee declared Keter’s victory null and void citing irregularities raised by his political rival Kitur Benard.

The outspoken lawmaker had garnered 10,273 votes in the primaries ahead of Kitur Benard Kibor who came second with 7,468 votes

However, on Monday April 25, UDA declared Bernard Kitur as the party’s flagbearer in the Nandi Hills MP race at the August polls.

The UDA committee; led by Collins Kiprono, Mary Mungai and Adrian Kamotho Njenga, ruled in favour of Kitur saying that his petition had merit.

“We have considered the various submissions made by parties and the evidence before us. We are convinced beyond doubt that the allegations substantially affected the results and impeached the integrity of the outcome,” they said.

The tribunal further directed the party’s elections board to take “appropriate” disciplinary action against Keter accusing him of voter bribery, intimidation and harassment of officials who conducted the nominations.

The MP, who is a vocal critic of DP Ruto, had previously been quoted saying that the party boss’ allies wanted to rig him out of the polls.