Four Bomet speaker aspirants have pulled out of the race and decided to back Jubilee’s Shadrack Rotich who is now unopposed.
The decision to back Rotich, who is Jubilee’s secretary general for the county, was reached after day-long deliberations.
The consultations were among Nairobi-based lawyer Joel Koskei, Jonah Ngeno, Chirchir Weldon and Bernard Kiprono who had submitted applications for the post.
Outgoing Speaker Geoffrey Kipngetich also attended the meeting that took place at the county assembly.
In an address to the press after the meeting, the four dismissed claims they were forced into the decision.
“We have done this willingly and for the sake of our county. During the last five years, we did not achieve anything tangible due to infighting between the executive and legislature. That is why we have decided to support one candidate,” Koskei said.
“We wanted to avoid going to the ballot because doing that would cause sharp divisions among members.”
Ngeno said: “We need peace in Bomet. We need to open a new chapter and to achieve that sacrifices have to be made. We found Rotich is best-suited to take up the job.”
Langat voiced similar concerns saying the only way meaningful development can be achieved in the county is if the two arms work together.
“We do not want to start on the wrong foot. We want to give [Governor Joyce] Laboso space to implement her agenda and that can only be through such wise decisions.”
Kipngetich said it is unfortunate that the last assembly turned into “a department in the office of the governor”, hampering service delivery.
“Though we faced a myriad of challenges, I am happy we managed to achieve a lot,” he said, adding he will look into “greener pastures”.
The assembly will on Wednesday inaugurate 25 elected and 11 nominated ward representatives and then elect the speaker.