ODM, UPA battle for Nyamira majority leader position

A new battle is brewing in the Nyamira County Assembly, this time between the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) parties.

Both parties have written to the Speaker of the Assembly, Enock Okero, to have one of them recognised as the Majority Leader.

The position of Majority Leader in the Assembly fell vacant following the death of Elijah Osiemo, who died in a road accident.

The late Osiemo was an elected member of the UPA.

On October 15, the Secretary General of Governor Amos Nyaribo's UPA party, Jacob Bagaka, informed the Speaker of the decision to have the vacancy filled by Abel Mokaya Mose.

"... in accordance with the Political Parties Act 2012 that vests the powers of designation of leadership in the County Assembly to the Majority or Minority party and in compliance with Standing Orders No. 16 of the Nyamira County Assembly, and the UPA constitution, we hereby designate (Mr Mose as the majority leader of the Assembly)," Mr Bagaka's letter read in part.

The rest of the leadership remains the same, Mr Bagaka said.

Mr Bagaka went on to ask the Speaker to bring the UPA's decision to the attention of the Assembly.

Two days later, ODM Secretary General and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna wrote to the Nyamira County Assembly Speaker nominating Township Ward MCA Duke Oyagi Masira, an ODM member, for the position of Majority Leader.

Mr Masira is among those who led the unsuccessful impeachment of Governor Nyaribo.

"In accordance with section 10 of the County Governments Act 2012, which provides for assembly leaders, please find below the party's nominee for the position of Majority Leader for Nyamira County Assembly," Mr Sifuna wrote.

He continued: "Kindly give him the necessary facilitation to carry out the mandate."

Nyamira County Assembly has 20 elected and 15 nominated members.

Initially, the UPA had six elected and three nominated members, making a total of nine.

However, with the demise of Mr Osiemo, the UPA now has eight.

The ODM, on the other hand, has four elected MCAs.

The Assembly has several other members elected on the tickets of different political parties.

The parties are Jubilee and Ford Kenya with two members each.

Others with one member each are Wiper, United Democratic Alliance, Amani National Congress, PPOK and KNC.

One MCA was elected on an independent ticket.

The leadership contest comes on the heels of the unsuccessful impeachment of Governor Nyaribo a few weeks ago.

The impeachment motion failed after failing to reach the two-thirds threshold of votes for or against the bill.

Eighteen MCAs had voted against the motion, while 16 voted in favour.

Days before the vote, the UPA whipped it's members to defeat the impeachment motion.

A few days before the vote to remove Nyaribo, the pro-impeachment MCAs had tried unsuccessfully to force themselves into various leadership positions in the House.

Mr Nyaribo later revealed that at least six politicians had supported the impeachment motion against him.

Notably, some political leaders in Nyamira are now training their guns on the county assembly speaker, whom they accuse of undermining the recent attempt to impeach Mr Nyaribo.

The plot thickens as MrNyaribo's opponents accuse the speaker, Mr Okero, of allegedly working behind the scenes to scuttle the impeachment.

The controversy has drawn in another politician from unlikely quarters, Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama, who is said to be eyeing Nyaribo's seat, and a host of political actors who have traded accusations and counter-accusations over who is to blame for the county's political instability.

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