From now till 2022, all political contests will be defined by the emerging political alignments and realignments as each camp tests their preparedness for what’s shaping up to be another competitive election cycle.
In Nairobi, the fall of Governor Sonko has plunged the city into a by election in mid February next year and with it, renewed old rivalries in tortuous city politics.
Maina Kamanda is today the senior-most Kikuyu politician in Nairobi County, with a long political career that started at city hall, now continuing with stints in parliament. He lost Starehe in 2017 to the musician Jaguar, but got a nomination.
Kamanda has remained studiously in the Uhuru corner, and as an early embracer of the ‘handshake’, is credited with stabilizing that pact between Uhuru and Raila. He remains one of the handshake’s staunchest stalwarts.
Enter Bishop Margaret Wanjiru.
Having lost to Kidero in 2013 during ODM nominations purely out of a technicality, Wanjiru has been in the political cold. She apparently went back to school — not theological school this time round — and earned a degree, which is the prerequisite that knocked her out in 2013.
Wanjiru, formerly an ODM honcho, quit the party and has been partyless for a while until recently, when DP Ruto worshipped with her in her Temple Road Jesus Is Alive Ministries shrine, which is now among the many makeshift church structures on road reserves marked for demolition to create way for modern metropolis transport corridor.
Wanjiru’s re-entry in city politics is calculated to have in DP Ruto’s corner a politician with ready networks in the city. She says she can tap into the religious lowlies, seal the slums, and lure the hustlers of Nairobi to the ballot.
Wanjiru believes — as do many anti-Uhuru Mt. Kenya politicians— that she stands a chance to defeat any candidate Uhuru props in the city.
She is correct to an extent. Uhuru is deeply unpopular. An economy in tatters, a government in shambles, and a President with no party machine to translate his big money pet projects into mass acceptability. And then there is his deputy, William Samoei Ruto, popular than him and his government, conniving with all to maintain that status quo.
Wanjiru’s “Uhuru kumi Ruto Kumi” is the entry point in backing DP Ruto. Despite never being in Jubilee herself, Wanjiru says the Kikuyus, with Uhuru as their spokesperson, had pledged to back DP Ruto when Uhuru’s 10 years are over. This arrangement is still very popular particularly with the “never Raila” segments of Kikuyu society.
In the now widely publicized spat between Kamanda and Wanjiru, the stakes are stark. Wanjiru, backed by DP Ruto, is spoiling for a fight.
And Kamanda, holding forte for the big boys, has his job cut out. He must vanquish Wanjiru, or rue.
Whichever formation wins Nairobi County’s by-election slated for early next year locks the city. And throws the keys away!
