ANC party has settled on Peter Nabulindo for the Matungu by-election slated for March 4.
ANC becomes the first party to pick its candidate for the by-election. Nabulindo will be issued with direct nomination at the party headquarters on Monday.
Party chairman Kelvin Lunani, Senator Cleophas Malala and MPs Ayub Savula (Lugari), Titus Khamala (Lurambi), Sakwa Bunyasu (Namvale), Oku Kaunya (Teso North) and Alfred Agoi (Sabatia) met Nabulindo at Two Gardens hotel in Matungu on Saturday and made the announcement.
Malala said that the party settled on Nabulindo after a research commissioned by the party revealed he was the most popular candidate for the mini poll. He said the party will finance Nabulindo’s campaigns fully.
"ANC will hold a big rally here in Matungu on December 24 to officially unveil the candidate and hit the ground running," he said. Nabulindo contested the seat in 2017 and finished second after the late Murunga with 12, 000 votes.
The seat fell vacant after the death of then MP Justus Murunga on November 14. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) gazetted the by-election last week.
Ford Kenya has announced that it will not field a candidate in Matungu but instead back ANC candidate.
Nabulindo said he was delighted to be the Luhya unity candidate on ANC ticket and promised to deliver the seat.
"I will serve the people of Matungu diligently if elected on March 4 and we will discuss mater's 2022 when the right time comes," he said. The late Murunga was an ANC member.
Other parties are yet to pick their candidates. ODM leader Raila Odinga announced during the late MP's burial that it will field a candidate for the seat.
The Orange party is said to have settled on former area MP David Were while DP William Ruto s reported to have settled on the late Murunga's second wife Carolyn.
ODM will be seeking to recover from the Msambweni loss where its candidate lost to an independent candidate sponsored by Ruto’s tangatanga outfit.
