• Kiminini MP Dr Chris Wamalwa joins six other candidates cleared by the IEBC to run for county boss..
• Wamalwa of the Kenya Kwanza Coalition expressed confidence the people will overwhelmingly vote for him as their second governor.
The electoral agency on Tuesday concluded clearance of governor aspirants in Trans Nzoia county.
Kiminini MP Dr Chris Wamalwa joins six other candidates cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. Its elections manager for Trans Nzoia is John Cox Lorionokou.
Wamalwa of the Kenya Kwanza Coalition expressed confidence residents will overwhelmingly elect him as their second governor.
After he was cleared, supporters broke into song and dance.
They represented Ford Kenya, ANC, UDA and The Service Party (TSP) and had camped outside the National Museums of Kenya offices in Kitale.
Wamalwa’s clearance ushers in a battle royal against former Rift Valley regional commissioner George Natembeya of Azimio la Umoja and five other candidates.
Natembeya has near-fanatical support from the Jubilee Party, Democratic Action Party of Kenya allied to Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa and ODM of Azimio presidential flagbearer Raila Odinga.
Wamalwa, who is the Ford Kenya secretary general, is banking on the support of Deputy President William Ruto, Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang'ula and his ANC counterpart Musalia Mudavadi.
The IEBC also cleared Jimmy Wakhungu Nduruchi, Timothy Korir, Wycliffe Asubwa, George Natembeya, Professor Ben Wanjala and Wilfred Muraya.
Nduruchi, who is chairman of the North Rift Independent Candidates Caucus, was the first to be cleared among the seven aspirants.
Wamalwa was the last to appear before the IEBC on Tuesday afternoon.
He will be on the ballot alongside Joyce Keter Cheruto as his running mate on the Kenya Kwanza Coalition ticket.
"The journey to transform Trans Nzoia has just began. We have been cleared by the grace of God to be part of the transformative agenda of taking this county to another level," Wamalwa said in an interviews.
He urged his rivals to carry out peaceful campaigns and avoid derogatory and incendiary language throughout the campaign.
He warned some civil servants and a section of the business moguls supporting his rivals.
In a surprise move, the Kiminini MP dropped his running mate Bethwel Kiplagat Kirior, due to some unspecified issues.
"We had hiccups here and there pertaining to my running mate but we want to thank the Nandi Council of Elders who moved swiftly and today we are privileged to have been cleared," Wamalwa said.
The MP surprised many residents by picking youthful Joyce Cheruto instead of Kirior who is older than Wamalwa.
He appointed Kirior as his campaign manager.
He described Cheruto as an accomplished grassroots mobiliser with a passion for community development.
"The lady you see here will marshal votes from her Nandi community. Together with Kirior, they will manage those such as Kipruto Kirwa who thought Kenya Kwanza would lose," he said.
The MP said he would emphasise family values, integrity and matters of the church where there will be a county prayer day.
He proceed to Kitale town on a meet-the-people tour and later addressed a rally at Kiminini market.
He later hosted interdenominational church representatives at his Kanananchi home.
He was accompanied by Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, Kwanza MP Fredinand Wanyonyi, former Trans Nzoia Senator Henry Tiole Ndiema and many Kenya Kwanza Coalition aspirants and national officials.
(Edited by V. Graham)