Senators in their chambers/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 14 – Senators are on Thursday afternoon expected to vote for a new Senate Deputy Speaker who will deputise former Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka who was overwhelmingly elected by the Senators during the first sitting that saw all the 67 Senators sworn in.
Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki and his Narok counterpart, Ledama Ole Kina will square it out in the Thursday election.
According to the Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye who spoke to Capital FM News on Wednesday, the two beat the deadline for interested candidates to return their nomination papers.
During their first sitting after electing Lusaka as the Senate Speaker of the 12th parliament, the election of his deputy failed to take place as the interested candidates who had showed interest for the position pulled out from the race at the last minute.
The likelihood of Kindiki to carry the day is however, undoubtedly foreseen following an endorsement by President Uhuru Kenyatta who fronted his candidature as the most suitable candidate for the job during a past Jubilee Party Parliamentary Group Meeting.
Kindiki who served as the leader of the Majority in the last Senate had earlier indicated that he was unhappy with the decision by his party to make him Deputy Speaker, but he has since downplayed the claims and said he is ready for the job.
Jubilee Party enjoys a majority of Senators in the House having 39 with the opposition, National Super Alliance (NASA) having 28 Senators, a factor that will highly favor Kindiki to beat Ole Kina, a staunch Opposition member.
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