Raila’s man retains Kisumu Speaker seat after chaotic session
Kisumu County Assembly Speaker Elisha Oraro has retained his seat.
Oraro, who was backed by ODM party leader Raila Odinga, narrowly defeated his main rival Samuel Ong’ow after a session marred by chaos on Tuesday, September 20.
He garnered 25 votes against Ong’ow’s 22 in a duel decided in a second round of voting.
In the first round of voting, Oraro got 24 votes, while Ong'ow, who served as majority leader in the previous assembly, received 23 votes.
Two other candidates, lawyer Kenneth Oduor Amondi and James Kounah, did not get any votes.
Chaos at Kisumu County Assembly
Earlier, chaos erupted at the assembly after the House Clerk Owen Ojuok attempted to bar four nominated MCAs from taking oath of office.
OJuok told the assembly that he had a communication from the court barring the four from assuming their roles as nominated members, sparking protests from MCAs who were supporting Ong'ow's bid for the Speaker post.
The clerk later headed to pressure from the MCAs and went ahead to administer oath of office to the four.
It's alleged that the four were targeted for going against the ODM party position on electing Oraro as speaker.
The four failed to honour a dinner meeting convened on Monday evening and attended by ODM party leader Raila Odinga to lobby for Oraro's bid.
