UDA, ODM to get lions share of nomination slots in Parliament

Politics is a game of numbers, and so is the composition of the August house.

With the direct election of 290 lawmakers representing the single member constituencies, 47 Woman Representatives and 47 Senators, the sharing of nomination slots in the bicameral Parliament will be based on a party’s performance at the ballot.

In the National Assembly, there are 12 nomination slots up for grabs to constitute the House.

The formula of sharing nomination seats is calculated at number of single member constituency and Woman Representatives, divided by 337 and multiplied by 12.

In the Senate, there are 20 nomination slots; 16 directly for women, 2 for youth, a man and a woman and two for persons with disability; a male and a female.

The 20 slots shared out based on a party’s performance in the quest for 47 elective Senate seats, divided by 47 and multiplied by 16 for the women slots. The same formula applies in the case of four youth and persons with disability slots.

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party has 22 elected Senators, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) 13, Jubilee garnered 4, Wiper 3, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) 2 with Ford Kenya, DP and NRM getting 1 Senator each.

Applying the nomination formula for women seats, UDA is guaranteed seven nomination slots, ODM 4, Wiper 1 and UDM 1. The other two seats will be a Mathematical contest, with the party with the highest percentage getting a slot.

In the youth slots, ODM and UDA will get one seat each, and similarly, get another seat each from the two set aside for persons with disability.

From the UDA party list published ahead of the General Election, party Secretary General Veronica Maina leads in the list of those guaranteed a nomination slot in the Senate.

Miraj Abdulrahman, Gloria Orwoba, former Narok Woman Representative Soipan Tuya, former Kajiado East lawmaker Peris Tobiko and city politician Karen Nyamu are assured of nomination slots in the Senate.

ODM election board chair Catherine Mumma leads in the list of ODM nominees to the Senate. Beatrice Oyomo, Hamida Kibwana and Betty Montet also made it to the top four.

The Jubilee party's solitary nomination slot in the Senate goes to Prof. Margaret Kamar who was the Senate deputy speaker in the last House.

Wiper party Secretary General Shakila Abdalla gets the party’s single nomination slot in the Senate.

In the National Assembly, UDA will get 5 nomination slots, ODM 3, Jubilee 1 and Wiper 1.

Two other nomination slots will be a Mathematical contest, even as the House awaits election of four members; Pokot South, Kacheliba, Kitui Rural and Rongai whose elections were postponed due to ballot papers mix up.

Those guaranteed nomination slots from UDA are Jackson Kosgei, Teresia Wanjiru Mwangi, Abdisirat Khalif Ali, Dorothy Muthoni Ikiara and Joseph Iraya.

From the orange party, nominees assured of seats in the 13th House are former Minority Leader in the 12th Parliament and ODM Chairman John Mbadi, youth leader Irene Mayaka and Umulkher Mohamed.

Former Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege makes her way back to the National Assembly courtesy of Jubilee Party’s single nomination slot, with Wiper party’s slot going to Lucas Mulinge.

UDA is the single party with the highest elected National Assembly members at 138, followed by ODM at 85, Jubilee 28, Wiper 24, ANC 7, Ford Kenya 6, UDM 5 and 5 from DAP-Kenya.

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party had a majority in the house with 161 members, Kenya Kwanza had 159 parliamentarians while 12 were elected as independent candidates.

However, Kenya Kwanza has been on a charm offensive, wooing to its side 10 of the 12 independent MPs.

It has also netted the UDM team, led by former Mandera Governor Ali Roba, who is now the county’s Senator-elect.

The first battle for numbers in the two Houses will be the election of Speakers. In the Kenya Kwanza agreement, Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula was designated the National Assembly Speaker, while former Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi was to get the Senate Speaker’s job.

For Azimio, former National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende had been designated the Senate Speaker’s seat, if the coalition was to garner a majority.

The MPs-elect await the convening of the first sittings within 30 days from Tuesday’s election, to be sworn in and elect their respective Speakers.