Alfred Keter in trouble as UDA nullfies his nomination win

By Joshua Cheloti Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter's recent surprise win at the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party primaries has been nullified. Keter was last week declared the winner following an exercise that was marred with claims of attempted rigging. In the results announced, the MP garnered 10,363 votes to be declared the winner against his closest challenger Bernard Kitur who got 7,468 votes. Kitur however challenged the nomination results claiming the exercise had multiple malpractices. In its findings, the UDA Elections and Nomination Dispute Resolution Committee agreed that the Nandi Hills MP nominations witnessed ballot stuffing and delays in transmission as claimed by Kitur who finished second in the race. "We are satisfied that the allegations of ballot stuffing and delays in transmission have been proven. The same violates Articles10, 15(5), (6) of the Rules, Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution; Rules 5,9, 19, 20 and other provisions of the party code of conduct, and contravenes sections 3, 10, 11 and 20 of the Election Offences Act," the committee said in one of its findings. It also questioned why Alfred Keter's Interim nomination certificate was signed in Kapsabet, instead of Samoei High School, which was the Constituency Tallying centre for the nomination held on April 19, 2022. Issuance of the certificate to the MP had been delayed after he was declared the winner - a move that raised concerns of attempts to deny him the win. The MP and his supporters had to camp at the tallying centre to get the certificate. However, the UDA Elections and Nomination Dispute Resolution Committee now say how the exercise was conducted affected the outcome of the nomination. The committee, in its ruling, annulled the results and forwarded the matter to the party's National Elections Board for further directions. "A declaration be and is hereby issued that the decision of the returning officer declaring the 1st Respondent as the presumptive nominee for the position of Member of Parliament, Nandi Hills Constituency, is null and void," the committee ruled. Considering UDA cannot hold any repeat nominations, as the dateline of doing so has elapsed, it will be up to the board to decide on who to issue a certificate between incumbent Alfred Keter and Kitur. The MP is not in good books among the allies of Deputy President William Ruto, and some of them, including Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, openly campaigned against him prior to the nomination.