Kithure Kindiki's removal as Senate Deputy speaker has been gazetted.
Speaker Kenneth Lusaka on Tuesday invited senators interested in the seat to submit their credentials to the clerk.
Elections for the post will be done next Tuesday.
The information was relayed to members by temporary speaker Rose Nyamunga on behalf of speaker Kenneth Lusaka.
Jubilee senators allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta and their NASA counterparts are working on a deal to field one candidate to replace former Senate Deputy Speaker Kithure Kindiki.
The Star learnt that negotiations and consultations for Kindiki’s successor have been ongoing between the two parties whose overwhelming numbers sealed Kindiki’s fate.
The lot christened 'handshake team' is keen to avoid competition that could grant the faction allied to Deputy President William Ruto an unlikely victory.
Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kang’ata and his Minority counterpart Mutula Kilonzo Jr confirmed that negotiations were ongoing.
“What we will avoid is outright competition. Ideally, we just need one candidate that we can all vote for at once,” Mutula said.
The move could be seen as a strategy to completely lock out Ruto allies from the lucrative position.
“It is something that will be agreed upon because the ideal situation would be that Jubilee should have their position. But if they don’t have a candidate, we will field a person for that position,” Mutula added.
Last Friday, the handshake team marshalled 54 votes to remove Kindiki, a Ruto confidant who got the support of only seven senators.
