MCA nominations intrigues, some slots secured through backdoor

Kenya’s top political parties have maintained that the generation of the people to fill the nominated MCAs slots was a sham and was done in total disregard of the law and the laid down procedures.

The debate on the credibility and integrity of the process of picking nominated MCAs surfaced after Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko claimed he nominated an alleged MPs lover.

“In 2017 Ken told me to nominate his second wife Ann Thumbi to the Nairobi County Assembly,” said Sonko during the Late Ken Okoth’s funeral service.

It was a statement that Governor Sonko hoped would settle the debate over the late Okoth’s alleged secret family with Nairobi’s nominated MCA Anne Muthoni Thumbi.

The Governor was however affirming that the nomination of the MCA in question was more out of political influence.

On October 23, 2018 the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in its audit report revealed big flows in the nominated MCAs list.

The report noted glaring inconsistencies in the administration of party lists, with some people being nominated though their names had not been forwarded by any political party.

The damning report also showed that the names of nominees in special categories of youth, the marginalized, people with disabilities and minorities were either replaced and new ones introduced and variations made in ranks but the commission still gazetted them.

“There are people whose applications were being received outside the timelines…,” observed Edwin Sifuna-ODM Secretary General.

The ODM Secretary General was making reference to a report made by a taskforce that indicated that the process of picking the party list for the nominated MCA slots was a sham.

According to Sifuna, the Party’s County Electoral College by the party’s governor’s elect failed to adhere to the rules and Governors took advantage of loopholes to fix in their relatives and lovers.

“We have agreed that our members were wronged….there were many things that went wrong…if after the list were agreed at the party headquarters…the distance between the office and IEBC was enough for the list to change…..,” lamented Sifuna.

IEBC’s last year audit report and ODM’s task force report agree that there were weaknesses in the process of nomination.

“…By the way, there’s nothing wrong with nominating anyone who is close to you whether friends of concubines but we are saying is, you should be able to declare that conflict of interest and stay away from the nomination process to give it credibility….,” he added.

On his part, Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju said Governors were responsible for filling the nominated MCAs slots.

According to Tuju, by delegating the job, the party had envisaged that Governors would nominate people who will help them push their development agenda in the county assembly.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Tuju said the top party leadership only came in, in the event of a dispute or if nominated persons did not meet the set criteria.