Kenya’s EALA nominees row rages

The circus surrounding Kenya’s nominees to East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is far from over after Opposition presented the same four names it had before.

The Joint committee of EALA on Tuesday waited for the whole day on Tuesday at County Hall for the Opposition to present additional names but that did not happen.

In the afternoon, minority Chief Whip and Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu presented the same names they had presented before, saying there is no law compelling them to provide additional names.

“We are within the law to present the four names and we will not add any name to our earlier list,” Mr Mwadeghu said.

Mr Mwadeghu attributed the delay of Kenya submitting nominees to EALA to politics, accusing some MPs of scuttling the process.

NO OPTION

“This thing is not about the Opposition, some MPs know very well that they will not make it back to parliament and therefore want to delay the process so that they can get a slot after the general election,” he said.

The Opposition tabled four names, including Abubakar Zein, Kennedy Musyoka, Ronald Ngeny and Judy Pareno.

Clerk of the senate Jeremiah Nyegenye said they now have no option and will again present the same names to the joint committee by Friday this week.

Earlier on, a standoff ensued when Mr Mwadeghu refused to table the names as the clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialai had appointed senior deputy clerk Jeremiah Ndobi to stand in for him.

The standoff forced Mr Nyegenye to produce a letter showing that indeed Mr Sialai had directed Mr Ndobi to sit in for him as he was away in Uganda on official duty.

The protracted political battle between Jubilee and the Opposition over nominees to the regional Assembly has paralysed its operations.