The Jubilee Party’s decision on Wednesday to hand singer Charles
Njagua Kanyi alias Jaguar a ticket for the city’s Starehe parliamentary
seat was the highlight of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s delicate balancing
act between his friends and the party’s interests during the just-ended
party primaries.
While the President wants votes from
the youth, Starehe MP Maina Kamanda is a close ally of the Head of
State and has been a Jubilee pointman in Nairobi.
He
and former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth — who also lost to the flamboyant,
if not youthful, Mike Sonko in the race for the Jubilee ticket for
Nairobi County governorship — command huge respect among influential
Nairobi businessmen supportive of President Kenyatta’s presidency, most
of whom have roots in Murang’a.
KENYATTA SATISFIED
But
Jubilee Party vice-chairman David Murathe, who is a close ally of the
President, on Wednesday said Mr Kenyatta was satisfied with the way the
nominations had been handled in spite of the shortcomings in some
constituencies.
“The President is excited because the
outcome reflects the general expression of the will of the people and we
now know who we can market. Even yesterday (Wednesday), people thought
he would intervene and give the ticket to Kamanda but he did not.
“As far as we are concerned, the decision was a reflection of how Jubilee members in Starehe voted,” he explained.
Mr
Kamanda, a veteran politician who served as a councillor for years and
as MP as well as Cabinet minister in the Kibaki administration, declined
to comment on the matter, promising to issue a statement on Thursday.
Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau, also President Kenyatta’s staunch supporter, lost to Governor Mwangi wa Iria in Murang’a.
WAITITU TRIUMPHED
He
further let Kiambu, his home county, determine who between Governor
William Kabogo and Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu gets the Jubilee ticket.
Mr Waititu triumphed.
Perhaps that was the reason Mr
Kenyatta urged those who lost in the primaries to accept the decision of
voters, saying it confirms the level of entrenchment of democracy in
the country.
“Why are people blaming me when voters
choose the leaders they want?” he asked at State House. “Let us accept
the decisions of the electorate (because that is) an indication of the
level of the entrenchment of democracy in our country.”
For
the first time in a long time, the trouncing of Mr Kamanda and Mr
Kenneth means Murang’a might have no top elected official in the city.
LOST DREAM
Originally known as the Rwathia group, consisting of young men pushed out of their lands by settlers in the 1940s, the businessmen had fronted Mr Kenneth for the Nairobi governor’s seat.
Originally known as the Rwathia group, consisting of young men pushed out of their lands by settlers in the 1940s, the businessmen had fronted Mr Kenneth for the Nairobi governor’s seat.
Their candidate in
2013, Mr Jimnah Mbaru, was defeated by Dr Evans Kidero, and they thought
the could rectify that ‘mistake’ through Mr Kenneth.
With Mr Kamanda out, that dream is now completely lost.
Mr Njagua has been picked from a set of young men who have found favour in the President’s eye.
The
musician’s rise to the top began with his appointment in 2015 to the
board of the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and
Drug Abuse.
A political novice, he read the mood of
the day and allied himself with Sonko’s camp, which swept almost all
Jubilee seats in the city, perhaps other than that of Woman
Representative, which was successfully defended by Ms Rachel Shebesh.
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