Gatundu South MP Kuria admits Igathe’s resignation is a setback to Jubilee Party

Gatundu South Member of Parliament (MP) Moses Kuria has admitted that the fallout between Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Polycarp Igathe is a setback to the Jubilee Party.

Speaking during an interview with a local TV station on Sunday, Mr Kuria confirmed that talks to broker a truce between Mr Sonko and Mr Igathe are underway.

The talks will be led by Kuria and Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja. They have also incorporated other Jubilee politicians.

Kuria said that Jubilee plans to reconcile the two through talks until a solution is found to ensure the Capital focuses on service delivery to residents.

He says they will meet the two leaders individually before attempting to bring them together for round table talks.

“Yes I would agree and consider this as a setback. We are looking at all mechanisms including talking to them, that’s also an option. We are going to mend it and fix it and I want to tell the people of Nairobi and people of this country that there is no cause for alarm. We are going to ensure that sanity prevails,” Kuria said.

Jubilee plans to take advantage to bring the two leaders together before January 31 when Igathe’s resignation takes effect.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has on several occasions stated his vision for turning the city into a modern well managed metropolis.

Igathe who has years of experience in management in the private sector was expected to drive that vision.

According to sources, should those talks fail, the matter will be handed to President Uhuru who returned from a three-day official visit to South Africa on Sunday.

Igathe resigned, citing frustrations because he ‘failed to earn the Governor’s trust’, in what is blamed on strained working relationship with Sonko.

“Dear Nairobians, it is with a heavy heart that I resign my seat as elected Deputy Governor of Nairobi City County effective 1pm on 31st Jan 2018. I regret I have failed to earn the trust of the Governor to enable me to drive Admin & Management of the county,” he posted on his Twitter account.

“Without fear, favour or ill will I step down to avoid abusing or betraying my oath of office to Kenyans, Nairobians & my family. Thank you for the encouraging support given to me so far,” he added.

Details of the imminent fallout was first published by a local daily that claimed State House was running the affairs of the county as it by making key decisions and seconding senior officials to City Hall.

A miffed Sonko would, however, deny having a strained relationship with his deputy by publishing a series of private messages between him and Igathe. Their import was that all was okay between the two.

Many political pundits argued the nature of the messages exposed a somewhat uneasy relationship between Sonko and Igathe.

In the thread, Igathe seemed to be fond of missing his boss’s calls and somehow preferred to text him back.

During Jubilee party primaries, State House fished Igathe from Vivo Energy where he was the CEO.

The move was necessitated by a need to have a moderating influence on the flamboyant Governor by having a deputy well versed with corporate management.

Igathe, a University of Nairobi graduate has previously served as the regional managing director of Chris Kirubi's Haco Tiger Brands.

He also served as the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and a director at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the apex lobby of the private sector in Kenya.

Igathe was thrust into Nairobi's cloak-and-dagger politics after the Jubilee Party failed spectacularly to have former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth as its flag bearer in the 2017 elections courtesy of a sustained rebellion by Sonko and a coterie of Nairobi MPs.

At a certain stage, Sonko threatened to quit Jubilee. He later beat Kenneth roundly in the party's primaries. Kenneth called the nominations shambolic and went on to contest the seat as an independent, losing heavily to Sonko.

Igathe's resignation comes barely a week after Sonko survived an election petition by two voters.

The county government act of 2012 stipulates that when a vacancy in the office of the deputy governor arises, it will be filled in the manner stipulated under Article 182 of the Constitution.

Article 182 of the Constitution, however, mentions only how to replace the governor and not his deputy.