Busia Governor Paul Otuoma and his deputy Arthur Odera have refuted claims that they influenced nomination of 18 members of the county assembly to meet the gender threshold.
The duo, who spoke at two different events in Teso North constituency on Saturday, stated categorically that they had no hand in the nominations, which were done by political parties.
Speaking during the homecoming celebration for Teso North MP Oku Kaunya at Kakemer, the governor said Teso North was not shortchanged in the nomination of MCAs, but rather missed the slots based on technicalities as per the Political Parties Act.
"The law is very clear that no nomination can be executed if a party wins only one seat as exhibited in the August 9 general election, where ODM won only one seat through deputy speaker and Malaba Central MCA Ronald Ochalu," he said.
“Let us lead our people by talking. When we don’t speak people get confused."
The nominations have caused murmurs of discontent. Ochalu is the only elected ODM ward rep in Teso North.
"When people were applying to be nominated Otuoma was not the governor of Busia. I was just a common person looking for votes," the governor said.
"But now when people think I am the one who did the nomination they bring confusion as the exercise was done by parties. The only thing I should now be asked is how many county executive committee members and chief officers Teso North has been allocated,” he said.
Deputy Governor Odera reiterated that Teso North did not qualify to get any ODM nomination slot after securing only one elected seat.
Odera said out of the six elected MCAs only DAP-K won two seats that saw it be given one nomination slot, while five other parties including ODM, MDG, Wiper and Maendeleo Chap Chap managed only one elected seat each.
"The law is clear that a party that produces at least two MCAs in a subcounty will get one nomination, two slots for four elected and four nominations for six elected,” Odera said, while telling off those spreading falsehoods that they influenced the nominations.
Odera spoke at Kakurikit village during the burial of Aaron Onyapidi, 30, who was among three Kenya Wildlife Service scouts who allegedly drowned on September 29 while pursuing sand harvesters in Isiukhu River in Kakamega forest.
Last month, the nomination of 18 MCAs in Busia elicited protests as the Iteso community felt left out, despite voting overwhelmingly for Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga.
Edited by Henry Makori
