Barely a day after Kipchumba Murkomen was nominated to be the next Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary, there is already a scramble among political leaders to take over his Elgeyo Marakwet Senate seat.
With his nomination, subject to approval by the National Assembly, there is an imminent by-election for the Senate seat that he has held since 2013.
Murkomen and other CS nominees will likely get parliament approval and therefore a by-election in the county is almost assured.
For this reason, several individuals have already expressed interest in the seat, with some already hitting the campaign trail, albeit on social media.
As of Wednesday, September 28, 2022, there were at least 28 individuals interested to vie for the seat.
Lawyers and former former MPs
The list is a mixture of youthful and former legislators.
However, Uasin Gishu News understands that even before the Elgeyo Marakwet Senate seat is declared vacant, so far there are four individuals considered ahead of the pack.
They include first Elgeyo Marakwet County Assembly Speaker Albert Kochei, the current Soy North Member of County Assembly (MCA) JK Tanui and lawyer Kiprop Marimori.
Kochei is said to have already resigned from the Chama cha Mashinani party and will be seeking the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket.
JK Tanui on the other hand is rumoured to be a preferred candidate of the outgoing Senator.
Eliud Lorpesa and Tim Kipchumba, both lawyers are also listed among the leading candidates.
Apart from the four, several other popular names have popped up as interested in the Elgeyo Marakwet Senate seat.
They include former Keiyo South Member of Parliament Jackson Kiptanui, William Kisang (former MP Marakwet West) and Lawrence Mutwol.
Elgeyo Marakwet is dominated by two Kalenjin Sub tribes – Keiyo and Maraket. For the last 10 years, the seat has been held by the Marakwet sub-tribe, and the Keiyo community are now demanding that it is their term.
