Senator Lenny Kivuti ditches JP and decamps to Maendeleo Chap Chap

Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti speaks at Kanyuambora where he announced he has ditched Jubilee Party and decamped to Maendeleo Chap Chap party. (Photo: Joseph Muchiri/Standard)

Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti has ditched Jubilee Party (JP) and decamped to Maendeleo Chap Chap party.

Kivuti made the announcement after being pressed by some 1,200 people who included Mbeere North MP Muriuki Njagagua, Deputy Governor Dorothy Nditi and 10 MCAs at his Kanyuambora home yesterday.

The residents told Kivuti that he had no guarantee of securing the Jubilee Party ticket because the party could not be relied on to conduct free and fair nominations.

Kivuti, who wants to run for the Embu governorship, said having listened to elders, youths, professionals and women representatives from all parts of the county, he had to heed their call.

He said he had already held talks with Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua in regard to joining his party and the two would hold a meeting in Nairobi tomorrow and work out how to campaign jointly. “We want to be major stakeholders in Maendeleo Chap Chap party so that we can have a say there.

"We believe that if Embu and Machakos counties work together they will achieve great progress,” Kivuti, who was flanked by his running mate, former Manyatta MP Emilio Kathuri, said.

Kivuti, however, said that although he and the 23 MCAs planning to decamp would join Maendeleo Chap Chap, they would support President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election bid.

Kivuti said he would work with others to get candidates from Embu County to run seats in the   senate, the National Assembly (for women rep and MP) and the county assembly.

Njagagua said the decision to decamp to Maendeleo Chap Chap was borne out of frustration.

"We were being pushed out of the party silently and had to make this move," he said.

 “Even after we were summoned to JP headquarters on a Sunday and told to give a list of interim officials, they were not recognised," Njagagua observed.

The jostling to positions within Jubilee has resulted in a fallout in the county. Recently Embu Governor Martin Wambora said he was disappointed that the Speaker in his county assembly had been appointed the Jubilee director of elections.

The Speaker is allied to Wambora's potential rival for the governorship Runyenjes MP Cecily Mbarire.