UDA's Ndakwa floors DAP-K's Panyako in Malava by-election

David Ndakwa of the UDA party has won the Malava Parliamentary by-election seat after garnering 21,564 votes in a hotly contested mini-poll.

His closet opponent, Seth Panyako of DAP-K, came second with 20,210, followed by Wilberforce Tuvei of Kenya Moja Movement Party, who came third with 626 votes.

Shivakale Bruce Jason came fourth with 390, followed by George Ngaira, who got 257, James Shinachi Angatia scored 243, followed by Benjamin Nalwa with 215, then lawyer cum-politician Edgar Busiega of Democracy for Citizens Party garnered 209.

Joab Burudi Manyasi trailed with 70 votes.

The official results were announced by the Malava IEBC Returning Officer, Salim Abdalla, at the Malava tallying centre.

Ndakwa, while addressing the journalists, thanked the people of Malava for trusting in his leadership, stating that he is going to collaborate with the national government to complete all projects the late MP Malulu started.

"I want to thank my opponent for conducting a peaceful campaign. Second, let me commend my party leader, President William Ruto, for the support he has accorded me, and I want to assure my Malava people that I am going to be servant leader and not a ruler and ensure I finish all the projects that were initiated by our late MP," said Ndakwa.

Malava had a total of 94,447 votes spread across the seven wards with 198 polling stations, making it a Constituency with a high number of polling stations in Kakamega County.

Malava parliamentary seat felt vacant following the death of Member of Parliament (MP) Malulu Injendi, who died in February this year at Nairobi Hospital.

Malulu was serving his third term as an MP under the dissolved Amani National Congress(ANC) party.

Ndakwa, the former West Kabras Member of County Assembly(MCA), will serve the people of Malava for the remaining one year and eight months to the 2027 general election.

Prior to the by-election win, Ndakwa was first elected as West Kabras Member of the County Assembly in 2017 and was re-elected in 2022, serving as leader of the minority in the Kakamega County Assembly.

For the outspoken nurses’ union boss, this is the second time Panyako has failed to clinch the seat after narrowly losing to the late MP Malulu Injendi in the 2022 General Election.

Earlier on, DCP Deputy Party Leader Cleophas Malala put the tallying process on a temporary halt when demanded to be given two hours to verify the results.

Malala claimed that he was the chief agent for the DCP candidate Edgar Busiega, and therefore, he had the right to verify the tallying of results.

The Malava by-election was marred with low voter turnout, violence, voter bribery, vandalism of properties, hooliganism and intimidation claims.

However, on Thursday, Panyako accused the government of employing state machinery and goons to suppress the will of the people.

He alleged that his workers at Downhill Spring Resort in Kaburengu, Lugari Constituency, were attacked by armed goons in the company of police officers.

"Armed goons with knives and machetes in the company of police officers stormed my business premises, beat up and injured 10 people who are nursing serious injuries at Webuye Hospital," said Panyako.

He added, "My security person was stabbed in the stomach, and I am planning to transfer him from Webuye Hospital to Aga Khan Hospital for specialised treatment."

Earlier on, while at the polling station, Panyako wept due to frustrations and the attack and at one point, he almost refused to cast his vote, save for his DAP-K candidate Eugene Wamalwa, who intervened.

The convoy of the nurse's boss was attacked, and one of the vehicles was burnt to ashes at Butali area in Malava while on his way from the polling station.

He later visited Malava Police Station to report that his life was in danger, where he lost emotional control and spoke abusive language due to frustration with the police officers.

He later proceeded to Western Regional Police headquarters in Kakamega County to report that his life was in danger after an assassination attempt, where he alleged that armed goons fired bullets at his vehicle.

Interestingly, after he voted, Wamalwa left Panyako alone, and no prominent figure of the United Opposition, such as Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale and DCP Deputy Party leader Cleophas Malala, was around to be in solidarity with the DAP-K candidate, and even to protect their votes and encourage people to come out to vote for their candidate.

On the other side, Ndakwa accused the United Opposition of causing chaos and provoking his opposition.

"I want to urge my opponent not to resort to dirty tricks like intimidating my voters by bringing goons. I want to appeal to my supporters to come out in large numbers and elect me as their candidate, and they should not allow themselves to be provoked and retaliate in case they are attacked," said Panyako.

He added, "The election has been peaceful, similar to our campaigns, and we don't want violence because my campaign message has been peace."

The broad-based government deployed various tactics and state machinery, where senior government officials were deployed on the ground to various places across the constituency to push for higher voter turnout.