Senate Assembly on Session. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]
The Senate has invited eligible individuals to apply for the position of Speaker after President Uhuru Kenyatta's public notice convening the first sitting of the House on Thursday.
In a notice in the Kenya Gazette published yesterday, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared that the first sitting of the third Senate of the 13th Parliament will be on September 8, starting at 9am.
The sitting will be undertaken concurrently, in the 68-member Senate and the 350-member National Assembly
During the sitting, the senators will have an opportunity to elect the third Speaker of the Senate and his deputy.
At the same time, all the 47 senators-elect and their nominated counterparts will be sworn in to office on the same day.
Addressing a press conference in his office, Nairobi, yesterday, Clerk of the Senate Jeremiah Nyegenye asked those interested in serving as Speaker to pick nomination papers at his office and return them tomorrow by 2.30pm.
"Any person who is eligible for election as a Speaker or as Deputy Speaker of the Senate and who is interested in contesting for these positions, is advised to collect nomination papers," said Nyegenye.
The nominations papers were supposed to be picked starting yesterday between 1pm to 8pm and the Clerk said his office will open beyond office hours to facilitate the process so that the greatest opportunity is given for interested persons to collect the nomination papers.
"The office will open early today at 7am so that all those interested get an opportunity....."
The Senate will tomorrow have a pre-swearing-in session within the precincts of Parliament buildings, Nyegenye said.
The Standard has learnt that Isaac Aluochier and Oundo Jared Oluoch had already collected nomination papers for the Speaker position.
Before one is cleared to contest, he must submit the nomination papers with a list containing one third of all members of the House
However, the decision of who becomes the Speaker will be determined by the political parties. So far, Kenya Kwanza enjoys an advantage and whoever it picks is likely to become the fourth Speaker of the Senate, after Timothy Chokwe (1963), Ekwee Ethuro (2013/17) and Kenneth Lusaka (2017/2022).
Kenya Kwanza is likely to front former Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi and although Raila Odinga had fronted Kenneth Marende for the seat, it is not clear how it will pan as the former Speaker has been linked with a similar position in the National Assembly.
