Sonko, Waweru trade barbs over Nairobi governorship as DP Ruto watches

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko and Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru exchanged political barbs over governorship seat.

They did so in the presence of Deputy President William Ruto at a church service on Sunday.

The two leaders, who have announced their plans to run for governor under Jubilee coalition, criticised at each other for employing propaganda to edge out opponents ahead of the coalition's nominations.

In apparent reference to Mr Waweru, Mr Sonko accused the Central and Nairobi parliamentary caucus chairmen of misleading President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto not to support him since he was allegedly planning to run against the DP in 2022 after gaining political clout using the position. The legislator said he would not accept any form of consensus or endorsement by the party leadership, adding that he would only honour the verdict of voters.

"It is the people to decide, and not leaders endorsing their preferred candidate. I want to make it clear that I would not back down for anybody," he added.

Buoyed by the cheers from the congregation, and the fact that he was speaking at Waweru's home turf, Sonko went ahead to declare himself the most popular candidate among the Jubilee aspirants.

Waweru told Sonko to stop using threats against some of the ruling coalition's candidates.

Instead, he asked him to respect all leaders and engage in dialogue as opposed to combative politics. 

"I want to tell my friend Sonko that I am willing to vote him in 2017 elections but after talking and agreeing on which seat he would go for," he said.

Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja, former Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru and former Starehe MP Margret Wanjiru are some of the politicians seeking Jubilee ticket to unseat Governor Evans Kidero (ODM).

Ruto assured Jubilee supporters in Nairobi that the party would respect their verdict during the party nominations, and asked aspirants who would lose the ticket to rally behind the winner.

"Jubilee has no preferred candidate in Nairobi. We want to make it clear that neither the President nor I will endorse any candidate," he assured. While Ruto has more than once announced that the Jubilee was pulling all stops to make sure it grabs the seat from CORD, the infighting threatens the ambition.