Jubilee takes over Senate as Ethuro, Gitura win

By Moses Njagih and Roselyne Obala

NAIROBI; KENYA: Jubilee Coalition took the crucial command of the Senate after capturing positions of Speaker and deputy in the first day of business for the House.

Jubilee won the Speaker’s seat through former Turkana Central MP Ekwe Ethuro who defeated Coalition for Reforms and Democracy candidate former Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim after two rounds of voting.

Ethuro, who was beaten in the Turkana senator race in the March 4 polls by John Munyes, won the Speaker’s seat with a narrow margin of nine votes after garnering 38 votes against Maalim’s 29.

Former National Assembly Speaker Francis Kaparo had on Wednesday withdrawn from the race, leaving Jubilee with Ethuro as its only candidate to face off with CORD’s two candidates, Maalim and Erick Omondi.

Philip Murgor, Margaret Kamar and Samuel Poghisio also pulled out from the race.

“It is the right of every candidate to put forward his candidature and similarly to withdraw it at any time. Such a candidate is not required to assign any reason for their actions and thus I would be unable to tell why they withdrew,” said Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye.

Clear indications

He was responding to a point of order raised by Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale, who had demanded to know the reason behind the withdrawal of other candidates.

When the first vote was taken yesterday, indications Jubilee was on line to clinch the position were apparent after Ethuro won with 35 votes against Maalim’s 31.

Omondi came last garnering only one vote. Despite canvassing, especially among members of the Amani coalition and a section of nominated senators, the CORD team suffered the second loss, with its candidate going down 29 votes against Ethuro’s 38.

In his acceptance speech, Ethuro lauded his competitors, saying it was their democratic right to contest.  “I feel greatly honoured to be elected to the position of Speaker of the Senate. I am humbled by the immense confidence and the task that you have bestowed on me,” he said.

He added: “I also would like to salute my opponents for their high degree of democracy in the process.”

Ethuro, however, affirmed that Kenyans had high expectation on the House to deliver its mandate, which he assured the House would strive to achieve. “Given the high expectations that the people of Kenya have on the devolved system of governance, there is little or no option for us to succeed,” he stressed.

He promised to strictly uphold the rule of law and offer leadership while discharging his duties. He further emphasised the importance of the House members joining hands and working together.

Resources

He said devolution was envisioned to meet the challenge to take resources to the people. The Speaker, while making reference to Article 96 of the Constitution, said the primary mandate of the Senate would be to represent the counties and serve them.

He promised to facilitate the Senate in a non-partisan manner, despite being fronted by Jubilee for the position. He made it clear that the decision made would be that by the majority. He said Senate would strive to protect and pursue interests of the county government.

“We will deal with legislations, revenue allocation and oversight of the President and his deputy,” he said.The Senate, he said, would act as the second opinion. He noted that the roles of the Kenya Senate under the Constitution would be to debate and approve county Bills and further determine the allocation of national revenue to be distributed according to the counties.

It was a sweet victory for Uhuru and his running mate William Ruto who had led their brigade for a retreat to Great Rift Valley Lodge to strategise on how to capture the leadership of both the Senate and the National Assembly.

Talks

And the two Jubilee leaders were in the chambers to witness the vote, occasionally engaging their members in talks. The Jubilee team also clinched the Deputy Speaker’s seat with Murang’a Senator Kembi Gitura beating his Vihiga counterpart, George Khaniri.

Like in the Speaker’s race, Gitura, former Kenyan ambassador to Belgium, required two rounds of the vote to clinch the position, winning by 38 to 29 votes. Migori Senator Wilfred Machage of CORD had earlier stepped out of the race, leaving the contest between Gitura and Khaniri.