Former Makadara MP Benson Mutura has won the Nairobi Speaker election after receiving 99 out of 122 votes in the first round.
The vote on Friday took place via Zoom due to measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Mutura defeated five other candidates in the race to succeed Ms Beatrice Elachi, who resigned on Tuesday.
In his announcement of the winner, acting Speaker John Kamangu said,
“I hereby declare Mr Benson Mutura the new Nairobi County Assembly Speaker, having attained more than the required two-thirds majority votes.”
The new Speaker thanked President Uhuru Kenyatta, Jubilee and the Opposition for having faith in him and promised to be a servant for all and to embrace divergent views.
Mutura adjourned the sittings to September 8 after taking over from acting Speaker John Kamangu, who is also the Deputy Speaker.
Six candidates battled it out for the chance to lead city MCAs in the assembly.
Others candidates were former Nairobi Deputy Speaker Ken Ngondi, former Nairobi Economic Planning chief officer Dr Washington Makodingo, Abdi Ali Abdi who came second to Ms Elachi in the 2017 Speaker election, Mike Obonyo Guoro and Allan Chacha Mang’era.
