On Wednesday, opposition leader Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party ratified a report by the disciplinary committee to expel four nominated MCAs of the County Assembly of Kisumu.
The MCAs are Kennedy Ajwang, Peter Obaso, Caroline Opar and Regina Kizito.
On Thursday, the party wrote to the Kisumu County Assembly Speaker to implement the resolutions of the party's National Executive Committee (NEC).
Immediately, the Speaker of the Assembly made a communication suspending the four MCAs from House business.
But how can a nominated MCA in Kenya be replaced?
A nominated Member of the County Assembly in Kenya can be replaced before the end of his/her term.
However, according to the Elections Act 2012, such a substitution can only happen within a stipulated time within an election cycle.
The election laws refer to nominated MCAs as members of the party lists submitted to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) by political parties before the General Election.
Section 37 (3) provides that a vacancy in any seat in a political party list shall not be filled three months before a general election.
Re-allocation of special seats.
The law gives the IEBC the final legal say on the reallocation of party lists but requires political parties to first trigger the vacancy.
According to the Elections Act, 2012 a vacancy can arise if:
(a) A representative from a political party list dies.
(b) Withdraws from the party list.
(c) Changes parties.
(d) Resigns
(e) Is expelled from his or her party during the term of the representative.
The law says the seat of the representative shall be allocated to the next candidate of the same gender on the respective political party list.
Notwithstanding the provisions, if there are no more candidates on the same party’s list, the commission shall require the concerned political party to nominate another candidate within twenty-one days.
Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions requiring it to nominate another person, the Commission shall not allocate the seat for the remainder of the term of the county assembly.
