By Antony Gitonga
Naivasha, Kenya: Naivasha Bar Owners Association (Naboa) has denied allegations that it campaigned against former legislator John Mututho in the Naivasha parliamentary race.
The association dismissed claims that its chairman, John Muraya, was the presiding officer of The National Alliance party nominations, as was alleged by Mr Mututho.
Naboa, however, insisted Muraya was the co-ordinator of the TNA exercise in the area after aspirants elected him. Speaking in Naivasha, Muraya called on Mututho to retract the statement and apologise, failure to which he would sue him.
“The returning officer was Rev Cosmas Kinyanjui and I do not control the people of Naivasha on how to vote,” he said. He said Mututho was a good debater but a poor performer on the ground.
Muraya termed Mututho’s allegations as kicks of a dying horse, noting that his fight against illicit brew was proper but had ended up hitting licenced traders hard. Mututho, who was defeated in TNA primaries, blamed the association for his woes, saying they had campaigned against him.
Decamped
Mututho, who has since defected to Narc, promised to continue with his war against consumption of illicit alcohol.
“The bar owners had put on a spirited fight against me over the Alcohol Control Act but the fight will go on,” he said.
He defended his decision to join Narc, saying he was still a member of the Jubilee Coalition and a supporter of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to him, he had beaten the IEBC deadline as he received his nomination certificate hours before the exercise came to a halt.
“I received my Narc certificate by Friday 9.30pm after paying Sh100,000 and I have proof of this,” he said.
Mututho lost TNA ticket to John Kihagi, who garnered 12,329 votes against his 1,642.
