MC Jessy: I was coerced to forego MP bid, Ruto statement not my words

Comedian MC Jessy (L) poses for a picture with Deputy President William Ruto. [File, Standard]

Comedian MC Jessy, who is eyeing South Imenti parliamentary seat, now claims he was coerced by UDA operatives into foregoing his MP bid.

On April 13, Deputy President William Ruto said Jessy, whose real name is Jasper Muthomi, had accepted to step down in favour of Mwiti Kathaara.

"MC Jessy will join the presidential campaign team after postponing his parliamentary bid in favour of Mwiti Kathaara for the South Imenti seat,” Ruto said.

On April 18, Jessy made a U-turn, saying he was still in the South Imenti MP race, though on an independent ticket.

Now Jessy claims he was under duress while accepting to drop his bid in favour of Kathaara.

“Honestly speaking, I never accepted out of will to step down. I had been asked to take part in negotiations on who gets the UDA ticket in South Imenti MP race. As a result, planned primaries in the area were cancelled,” he said on Citizen Television on Thursday, April 21.

“At no single time had we mutually agreed that Kathaara would fly UDA ticket in the contest. I did not step down voluntarily as was announced. The statement that was communicated [by DP William Ruto] did not reflect my true position,” he said.

“The mistake I made was accepting to negotiate with my competitor, instead of insisting on Party primaries. Ruto asked me to step down in favour of Kathaara,” he said.

Jessy, who is seeking to run as an independent candidate, will now square it off with Kathaara in the August 9 General Election.

The comedian said he informed Ruto of his decision to seek the MP seat on an alternative ticket.

“He allowed me to exploit my potential,” said Jessy.

UDA ticket-holder Mwiti Kathaara attempted to clinch the Jubilee Party ticket in the 2017 polls, but lost to Shadrack Mwiti in the party primaries.

Shadrack Mwiti would lose the South Imenti MP contest to the incumbent Kathuri Murungi, who ran on independent ticket.

Another aggrieved UDA ticket aspirant, Patrick Wainana, alias Wa Jungle, also said in the Citizen Television interview that he will run for an elective seat in August 9 as an independent candidate.

Wainaina is the current Thika Town MP. He is eyeing the Kiambu Governor’s seat in the upcoming elections.

Wainaina lost the UDA ticket to Kiambu Senator Paul Kimani Wamatangi, who got 86,020 votes in the April 14 primaries.

Wainaina, who won the Thika Town MP seat as an independent candidate in 2017 polls, got 57,568 votes in the UDA nominations.

The lawmaker accused UDA of foul play, saying the Party used his “unpopular” name – Patrick Kimani – on the ballot paper, which he said was “not as popular as Patrick Wainaina.

He said after the results were announced, he immediately made up his mind to contest for Kiambu Governor seat on an independent ticket.

“If the UDA Party officials don’t want you, there’s nothing much you can do. They will only waste your time until the deadline to register yourself as an independent candidate expires, making you miss out on the election,” he said.

Sections of UDA primaries were marred with chaos, with some aspirants alleging that they’d been rigged out.

The disputes resolution committee, however, encouraged the aggrieved aspirants to lodge formal complaints.