Jubilee's Ng'endo wins Huruma ward by-election

Huruma ward by-election winner Lucy Ng'endo during a campaign tour in Eldoret town. [File, Standard]

Jubilee’s Lucy Ng'endo, the widow of former Huruma MCA Peter Kiiru, has been declared the winner in the just concluded by-election.

Mrs Ngendo garnered 2, 498 votes flooring 12 other candidates to clinch victory.

Peter Wanjohi of The New Democrat (TND) emerged second with 1, 147 votes while the rest got less than 1000 votes each.

The by-election was characterised by voter apathy with less than 30 per cent turnout. The ward has over 31 000 registered voters.

UDA party which is associated with the Deputy President William Ruto did not field a candidate in the mini-poll after the DP endorsed Ng'endo during the burial of her husband in October last year.

In a victory speech, Ng'endo applauded IEBC for conducting a free, fair and credible by-election.

"None of the candidates including myself witnessed malpractice. There were no missing names or the electronic voting devices malfunctioning. The IEBC did their job well," she said.

The victor extended an olive branch to her competitors imploring them to join hands in developing the ward.

"Many are called and few are chosen. We cannot be all elected at the same time thus I ask my competitors to join me in improving the lives of locals," she said.

Jubilee Deputy Secretary-General Joshua Kuttuny who was at the tallying centre congratulated the winner, noting that the win was a clear demonstration the party has a fanatical following in the region.

"Jubilee is the party of choice in this region and moving forward we shall improve our grassroots communication structures with the headquarters as a way of further strengthening the party," he said.