William Ruto dominates the battle for county assembly seats

Deputy President William Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto receives Nairobi MCAs who joined UDA. President-elect William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance has a majority of members of county assemblies.

Photo credit: DPPS

President-elect William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance has a majority of members of county assemblies (MCAs) with at least 720 ward representatives elected under its affiliate parties.

On the other hand, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party led by Raila Odinga has 607 MCAs out of the 1,450 in the 47 county assemblies. Dr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) dominates the individual parties list with at least 516 MCAs, with the party showing a similar dominance in the National Assembly and Senate.

Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) comes a distant second with 268 MCAs. Independent candidates have been elected 120 wards. In 2017, 109 independent candidates were elected.

Ditching the coalition

Kenya Kwanza numbers have, however, been boosted by four Azimio members ditching the coalition to pledge their allegiance to the President-elect.

Mandera Senator-elect Ali Roba’s United Democratic Movement (UDM) has 36 MCAs, former Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua’s Maendeleo Chap Chap has 17, former Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi’s Pamoja African Alliance has16 MCAs and former Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana has nine.

UDM numbers were boosted by 20 MCAs from Mandera County, Mr Roba’s political bastion.

The move has denied Azimio at least 78 ward reps who would have added to its numbers.

In Kenya Kwanza, only Moses Wetangula’s Ford Kenya and Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress (ANC) managed more than 30 MCAs with other affiliate parties bringing in less than 10 ward representatives to the alliance.

In Azimio, Jubilee Party and Wiper Democratic Movement have 70 and 69 MCAs respectively with Democratic Action Party-Kenya (DAP-K) and Kanu with about 20 each.

In the August 9 poll, UDA had a strong showing in its strongholds, especially the North Rift and the Mt Kenya regions.

In Nyeri, Kenya Kwanza almost swept the county with 25 MCAs from UDA, one from ANC and four independents.

 In Kericho, UDA has 27 MCAs while the other three are independents. UDA has 19 MCAs in Bomet, four are independent while CCM has two.

In Narok, UDA has 12 MCAs, Jubilee six, ODM four, independents are three, Chama Cha Mashinani has two while ANC and former Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui’s Ubuntu People’s Forum have one each. UDA has 13 MCAs in Kajiado, ODM eight, Jubilee and Wiper two each.

The party also put up a fight in Trans Nzoia coming out with 11 MCAs against DAP-K’s seven and Ford Kenya’s three.

In Bungoma County, UDA has 11 MCAs close only to Ford Kenya’s 20 MCAs while DAP-K has only 10, three independents while ODM, MCC and Jubilee one each.

In Nairobi, UDA has 36 MCAs, ODM 34, Jubilee six, Wiper four, CCK one, two are independents while two wards are yet to have their elections.

In Siaya, ODM has 25 MCAs, Federal Party of Kenya, UDM one each and one independent.

In Kisumu, 34 MCAs are from ODM and the remaining one an independent. In Homa Bay, 32 MCAs are from ODM, while eight are independents.

In Migori County, 24 MCAs are from ODM, eight are independents, three are from the Progressive Party of Kenya (PPOK), two are from Jubilee, while Upia, UDA and Kanu have one each.

ODM has 12 MCAs in Kisii, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has three, Kenya National Congress (KNC) five, which was the same as UDA, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) four; and Kenya Social Congress and Wiper three while MCCP, Jubilee, independents and DAP-K have two each.

In Nyamira, UPA has six MCAs, ODM five, Wiper two, the same as Ford Kenya, while KNC, PPOK, UDA, Jubilee have one MCA each and one is independent.

Independents

In Western, ODM has 27 MCAs in Kakamega, ANC 12, DAP-K four, same as UDA, United Democratic Alliance (UDP) three and independents three. Maendeleo Democratic Party and Kanu two while Ford Kenya and PAA have one each. In Vihiga, ODM has 10 MCAs, ANC seven, three are independents, while MCCP, DAP-K, Ford Kenya, UDP and PPOK have one MCA each.

In Busia, ODM has 20 MCAs, DAP-K four, activist Okiya Omtata’s National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA) three, same as Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG), while MCCP, Wiper Mazingira Green Party, and UDA one each and one independent.

Council of Governors

At the council of governors, Kenya Kwanza again edges Azimio as they have control of 24 governors with UDA contributing 19, UDM two, Ford Kenya and ANC one each and one independent after Meru Governor-elect Kawira Mwangaza pledged allegiance to the alliance.

On the other hand, Azimio is left with 20 governors with ODM having 14, Wiper three, UPA and DAP-K one each while Taita Taveta Governor-elect Andrew Mwadime is yet to identify with any side.

Elections for Kakamega and Mombasa gubernatorial seats are set for Monday next week.