The family of Paul Koinange has picked Lenah Koinange, daughter of the former cabinet minister Mbiyu Koinange to vie for the Kiambaa seat on the Jubilee party ticket.
Through spokesman Leonard Karuga, they said 10 family members were interested in the seat but they had agreed to support Lenah.
“It was a tough decision but we all agreed to support Lenah who is Koinange’s last born,” Karuga said.
He said the family was not at crossroads on who to select, calling the choice a show of democracy to agree on one person to face other aspirants.
Lenah said, with the blessings of the family, if elected she would work diligently to fulfil the dreams and works of her father.
A section of elders also endorsed Lenah and called on Kiambaa people to rally behind her.
Koinange died on March 21 in Nairobi of Covid complications.
While paying his last respects to Paul Koinange, Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’ suggested elders negotiate for someone in the Koinange family to take up the job without going to an election. The general election is a little more than a year away.
“If we could find a way of negotiating democracy in Kiambaa as it was done in Garissa, then it would be wonderful and a sign of appreciation of the legacy of the Koinange family,” he said.
In Kiambaa, a bedrock of the Jubilee Party, opinion leader Eric Mutura Mbugua also wants the Jubilee ticket and called on the Jubilee Party to put its house in order for free and fair nominations.