Jaguar win tests Jubilee loyalties: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.
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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