United Democratic Alliance (UDA) chairman, Johnson Muthama was trounced in the Machakos gubernatorial seat in the Tuesday, August 9 poll.
This is after he garnered 37,980 votes, losing to the Wiper party's Wavinya Ndeti who was declared the governor-elect with 226,609 votes.
Chama Cha Uzalendo's Nzioka Waita came second with 129,181 votes.
Other candidates who vied for the seat include Maendeleo Chap Chap’s Francis Maliti who got 9,981 votes and Rose Mulwa who scored 4,424 votes.
Earlier, Waita had on Friday, August 12, conceded defeat and lauded Ndeti for the opportunity to serve the Machakos county residents.
"I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate our incoming Governor for the County of Machakos Hon. Wavinya Ndeti. I wish her and her team every success as she takes over the reign of County 016," he stated.
"We have no regrets in entering this race. We put our best foot forward. Our ideas were good but our opponent's tactics were better," he added.
How DP William Ruto Lost Machakos
According to Forms 34B uploaded on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) portal, Azimio la Umoja's Raila Odinga received the most votes in Machakos county with 304,830 votes against Deputy President William Ruto's 101,437.
Both presidential candidates had marshaled their troops to various counties in order to solicit votes. In the Kenya Kwanza coalition, UDA's Muthama was touted as the preferred leader to counter Azimio's Kalonzo Musyoka who is perceived as the Eastern region's kingpin.
The vote-rich Ukambani region registered a total of 60 percent voter turnout (1,030,292 individuals out of 1,699,724 registered voters) indicating the essence of the three counties.
The Kenya Kwanza woes in the region were marked by the fallout between Muthama and outgoing Machakos governor, Alfred Mutua. The dissension between the two seemingly brewed as both leaders could not share the same campaign platforms.
This was further rocked after Mutua openly declared his support for Wiper's Ndeti, urging the Machakos residents to support the Azimio candidate as opposed to Muthama.
“My vote, I will vote for William Ruto as President, Rita Ndunge for woman representatives, and Wavinya Ndeti as governor because she is capable of bringing development to Machakos County," Mutua stated at a past rally.
In addition, Muthama is on the record saying he cannot share a podium with the Machakos governor until he apologizes to the people of Machakos for poor leadership.
Ruto's chances boiled down to the initial fallout between Raila and Kalonzo- which led to the latter declaring his presidential bid after the announcement of Narc-Kenya party leader, Martha Karua as Raila's preferred deputy.
The Wiper party leader, however, rejoined the coalition after he was promised a Chief Cabinet Secretary slot as well as several Cabinet slots.
