By William Koome
Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party has nullified Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter’s victory in the Tuesday’s primaries over alleged malpractices.
The MP who since 2017 had not been supporting DP Ruto until last month when he joined the party, clinched the UDA ticket after garnering 10, 273 votes against his closest opponent Bernard Kitur who managed 7468 votes.
The nominations were last week pushed to Tuesday (April 19) after the death of one of the contestants Wesley Kogo who died in a road accident.
Scuffle ensued after issuance of interim certificate to the vocal MP was delayed despite having been declared the winner forcing the lawmaker to tell his supporters to hold on until the certificate was out.
Mr Keter, who has been at loggerheads with several Ruto’s lieutenants, then claimed that some people had threatened to withhold his certificate in event he won.
And even after he was issued with the certificate, party officials did not offer explanation for the delay.
But the party in a Friday verdict, following an appeal by Mr Kitur, said the nominations were marred with irregularities which affected the outcome and consequently termed the decision to declare Mr Keter the winner as null and void.
The ruling delivered by Mary Mungai, Collins Kiprono and Jadrian Kamotho said Mr Kitur had proven beyond reasonable doubt that the primaries were skewed.
The dispute resolution committee referred the matter to UDA National Elections Board for action.
