Contest for Nairobi seats get murky as Jubilee sidelines Kamanda camp

Deep divisions within the President Uhuru Kenyatta’s led Jubilee Party have emerged with one camp aligned to the Nairobi senatorial aspirant and nominated Member of Parliament Maina Kamanda being sidelined from internal party affairs.

Kamanda and his team are said to be working in cross-purposes and sabotaging party’s interests.

According to party insiders, Kamanda is said to be wrecking the party from within to push through preferred candidates for various Nairobi seats against the party’s interests.

The Informer has reliably learnt that Kamanda has been cited for publicly de-campaigning a Jubilee candidate, Polycarp Igathe who is eyeing the governorship post even before the party decides whether to subject all the candidates to a nomination process or consensus.

The party is also toying with the idea of horse-trading the various seats amongst other Azimio One Kenya Coalition affiliate parties notably; ODM and Wiper Party to broker a political equation where all the parties are represented.

“We cannot have people forming splinter groups that might eventually be counterproductive to the bigger interests of the party,” an insider intimated.

Last month, The Informer revealed how Kamanda and Igembe North Member of parliament Maoka Maore were banned from accessing the State House.

According to sources privy to the event that led to the ban, Kenyatta summoned the two along with other Jubilee officials to State House at night, on the eve of the Jubilee Party National Delegation Convention (NCD) after learning that they had given themselves positions in the party ahead of the convention last month.

Kamanda and Maoka had listed their names as the incoming National Organising Secretary and Deputy National Organising Secretary, respectively.

Kenyatta expunged them from the new Jubilee leadership team and consequently from accessing him at State House indefinitely.

The affected changes in the Jubilee Party leadership made the two positions dished out to Mt Kenya region where Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni and his Kieni counterpart Kanini Kega were appointed secretary-general and director of elections, respectively.

He has been a key stumbling block to many emerging political leaders by blocking them from the limelight.

He was also blamed for the bangling of the Kiamba election, where the UDA candidate John Njuguna won against Kariri Njama of Jubilee by 510 votes.

If granted the party ticket, Kamanda will faceoff with ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and Margaret Wanjiru of UDA for the Nairobi senatorial contest.

However, Jubilee, ODM and Wiper are considering to share political slots for Nairobi governorship, Senate seat and that of Woman Representative without subjecting their respective candidates to a contest during the August 9 polls as Azimio candidates as a compromise of national politics.

On the other hand, besides Igathe, those seeking the Nairobi gubernatorial seat on Jubilee ticket are Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) president Richard Ngatia and Agnes Kagure.

Timothy Wanyonyi of ODM and Senator Johnson Sakaja of UDA have also expressed interests.

The Kenya Kwanza team bringing together Deputy President William Ruto’s UDA, ANC of Musalia Mudavadi, and Ford Kenya of Moses Wetangula, among others, have settled on Sakaja as their coalition candidate for Nairobi.

Igathe, a seasoned private sector player and a banker recently resigned as Equity Bank Chief Commercial Officer to contests.

He also served as deputy governor to former Nairobi governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko but resigned following an acrimonious fallout before the former was impeached.

With the aspirants intensifying campaigns, party insiders contend that the factional wars could threaten Jubilee’s efforts to forge unity in the capital city.

Analysts say the ruling party must consolidate its support and hang on ODM boss Raila Odinga’s popularity in order to capture the seat.

Raila is the Azimio One Kenya Coalition presidential flagbearer. Kamanda is quoted on record, warning that, “Nobody will push Igathe down the throats of Nairobians.”

“We have come of age. Igathe ran away from his job given to him by the electorate and is yet to apologise. We will put up a big fight against him,” Kamanda said.

“If he ran away without telling anyone and informing Nairobians, how sure are we that he won’t abandon his job again?”

While some are pushing for nominations, others want consensus to pick the Jubilee flagbearers in the city.

“Nairobi needs a focused leader who will redeem the county from its ugly past, and let the best method be used to get the best candidate,” Roysambu MP Waihenya Ndirangu said.

Jubilee secretary-general Jeremiah Kioni, early this week, revealed that Igathe had been given the nod to contest for the party ticket.

“Igathe is in the Nairobi governor’s race. He has paid his nomination fees and also done everything required to vie for the seat,” Kioni said.

But Kamanda, a former Starehe MP claimed Igathe is being backed by some powerful individuals who are ungrateful to the many Jubilee leaders who have fought for the party in the city.

“He is being pushed onto us from the back-door by some people, we will start exposing those faceless individuals behind him,” Kamanda said.

Kioni has not revealed the method of nominations used to select the Jubilee flagbearer who will oppose Johnson Sakaja endorsed by Deputy President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza party.

The President’s party declared that its primaries will take place between April 11 and April 21.

Parties have until April 22 to complete nominations and resolve any pending disputes, according to the law.

They will subsequently submit their nominees’ names to the IEBC for gazettement on April 28.

Some lawmakers linked to the Azimio la Umoja movement are claimed to be mostly opposed to Igathe’s admission.

According to sources, Igathe has the support of some State House operatives to form a joint Azimio ticket with Raila’s pick.

“I am in this race to win. We want to start our victory at city hall by first securing the Jubilee party ticket,” Ngatia said on Sunday when he unveiled his candidature.