Comedian KJ floors MP Dennis Waweru in Dagoretti South Jubilee primaries
Former Redkyulass comedian, John Kiarie, popularly known as KJ, has won the Dagoretti South Jubilee Parliamentary primaries.
Mr Kiarie, who garnered 9,793 votes in the nominations held on Wednesday, April 26, beat the incumbent legislator, Dennis Waweru, who garnered 9,051 votes, in results announced Thursday, April 27 by Constituency Returning Officer, Amos Ngaria, at the Kinyanjui Primary School tallying center.
KJ had twice unsuccessfully sought to be a legislator in the 2007 and 2013 elections.
In 2013, he lost to Dagoretti North Member of Parliament, Simba Arati, in the ODM primaries.
In 2007, KJ, who was an ODM candidate, lost to PNU’s Beth Mugo for the seat of Dagoretti MP.
He would later file a petition at the High Court calling for the nullification of Mugo’s win, but his application was dismissed in September, 2008 for lack of sufficient evidence.
After the two unsuccessful attempts to become MP, on ODM ticket, KJ decamped to Jubilee Party in February 2016.
KJ rose to fame as a comedian in the programme Redykyulass. Redykyulass was a popular comedy show which aired on local television stations early 2000s.
The key acts were: Walter Mong’are, who played former President Moi, John Kiarie; the late Mama Lucy Kibaki and Tony Njuguna; who played the immediate former President, Mwai Kibaki.
Walter Mong’are, in a past interview with Citizen TV, revealed how the three came up with the concept which would later sweep the airwaves.
“It was one of those beautiful accidents. We were in the middle of the cultural week at Kenyatta University and the program was a little bit running behind schedule. We were short of performances and Tony then was the head of the culture centre,” narrated Mong’are.
“We said why don’t we do something in the mean time to close the gap as we wait for the next item? And that’s how Redkyulass came about.”
The group later disbanded and the three members embarked on their personal ventures, with KJ plunging into politics and Mong’are moved to radio before joining the County Government of Nairobi as the Director of Communications.
Source link-citizentv.co.ke
Comedian KJ floors MP Dennis Waweru in Dagoretti South Jubilee primaries
