Incumbent MPs lose out to newcomers and political greenhorns

Supporters of Starehe MP aspirant Charles Njagua aka Jaguar protest outside Jubilee Party headquarters after the Jubilee Election Board nullified the nominations. [John Muchucha, Standard]

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko was Thurday night headed for victory in the race to become the Jubilee candidate for the governor position.

The flamboyant lawmaker was leading his closest challenger, Peter Kenneth, having garnered 94,300 votes in 11 out of the 17 Nairobi constituencies that had declared their results.

Mr Kenneth had received 53,926 votes in the declared constituencies.
Bishop Margaret Wanjiru had managed a total of 3,841 votes.

In Kibra constituency, Sonko received 5,782 against Kenneth’s 2,086 votes. In Embakasi South, Kenneth managed a paltry 875 votes, falling to Sonko who garnered 2,745 votes. The same pattern repeated itself in Lang’ata where Sonko received 7,727 while Kenneth managed 2,431.

In Embakasi North, Sonko garnered 8,010 votes against Kenneth’s 3,521.
In Mathare, the senator had 6.160 votes while Kenneth received 1,574.

In Dagoretti South, Sonko received 6,338, beating Kenneth by 4,082 votes. Sonko had 8,010 votes in Dagoretti North while Kenneth received 3521.

In Roysambu, Sonko garnered 17,981 votes while Kenneth had 9,535.

Sonko is now expected to face the incumbent, Evans Kidero, who sailed unopposed on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket.

Kenneth had on Wednesday night said he would not accept the results, citing irregularities in the conduct of the exercise.

For the Senate seat, Johnson Sakaja was headed for victory, having garnered 55,562 votes against two of his closest challengers, Badi Ali and Richard Mutinda.

In the nine constituencies, Mr Badi had received 2,873 votes while Mr Mutinda had 5,076 .

At one point, Nairobi woman representative Rachel Shebesh stormed the tallying centre claiming a plot to rig her out in favour of her challenger, Millicent Omanga.

Ms Shebesh was leading by 32,831 votes. Her challenger had received 18,074 votes.

In the constituencies, seasoned politicians fell by the wayside as greenhorns took over the city wearing Jubilee colours in preparation for the August 8 test.

One of the biggest shocker is the exit of Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru, who was actively campaigning for governorship before changing his mind to defend his seat.

Former Redkyulass comedian, John Kiarie, popularly known as KJ, won the Dagoretti South Jubilee Party primaries.

Mr Kiarie, who garnered 9,793 votes in the Wednesday nominations, beat Mr Waweru who garnered 9,051.

KJ had run twice; 2007 and 2013, unsuccessfully. After the two attempts on an ODM ticket, KJ decamped to Jubilee Party in February 2016.