Kennedy Okeyo Ngondi has been elected as the Speaker of the third assembly of the Nairobi County Assembly.

Ngondi garnered 68 votes against his rival Robow Mohammed who managed 55 votes in the second round of voting.

The Nairobi County Speaker race attracted a total of 24 candidates. Only nine returned the nomination papers while seven others were barred for failing to meet the set requirements.

Ngondi and Robow were the only two candidates left to contest the Speaker race after others were locked out.

During the first round of voting, both candidates failed to attain 82 votes as per the Standing Order of the Assembly that would have seen either of them ascend to the Speaker position.

Ngondi was declared the winner in the second round where only a simple majority win is required for one to be elected Speaker.

The new County Assembly Speaker served as the Member of County Assembly (MCA) for Kware ward and the Deputy Speaker during the tenure of the late Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Alex Magelo (2013-2017)

Chaos during voting

The first round of voting was interrupted after chaos marred the process as Kenya Kwanza allied MCAs decried foul play, claiming that the whole process of voting was not a secret as the Standing Order directed.

“We don’t like the positioning of the voting booths. The one on the left side is near the Azimio members hence they can see who a member is voting for,” Ngara MCA changes Mwaura complained.

“No one should be allowed to go with any material at the booth. Our fellow members from the Azimio sides even want to take photos of the ballot papers,” he added.

At some point, the Kenya Kwanza allied MCAs accused the Sergeant of locking out their colleagues – a claim which was dismissed by Azimio’s side as buying time to slow the election process.

“Honourable clerk let our colleagues be allowed in. We have a few members who went out and the doors are already closed. We cannot continue if they are not yet in, let the bell rings to allow them to come in,” Umoja 2 MCA Mark Mugambi Macharia Kelvin lamented.

“This is a House guided by Standing Orders. Our counterparts are just pre-empting what has not even happened. We have not yet begun the voting and they are claiming we are taking photos. Let them wait for the process to begin before they start to complain,” Kilimani MCA Moses Ogeto stated.