Nduku’s senate bid runs into headwinds

Senator Mutula Kilonzo widow’s bid to run for the vacant Makueni seat on a Jubilee ticket has suffered a blow.

The coalition plans to field a candidate under its constituent party Narc, but Mrs Nduku Kilonzo was not its candidate, according to Mr Kiema Kilonzo.

“We have already settled on former Kibwezi MP Philip Kaloki. The deadline for parties to identify candidates was last Wednesday and Mrs Kilonzo’s name was not among the ones I presented to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission last week,” Mr Kiema, Narc’s new leader, told the Nation in a telephone interview.

He said the parties in the Jubilee alliance had agreed to back only one candidate for the seat. “As far as I am concerned, Prof Kaloki is our man in the July 22 battle,” Mr Kiema said.

He denied that a disagreement between the main parties in the coalition over the by-election could have brought Mrs Kilonzo in the picture.

“I don’t see any discomfort among Jubilee partners because we are finished with what the IEBC had asked us to do by June 5,” he said.

On Sunday Mrs Kilonzo stunned many when she threw her hat in the ring for the seat during a church service attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Machakos Town.

Mrs Kilonzo was introduced to the congregation at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral by Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu before she made the announcement. Mrs Ngilu is the former leader of Narc.

It was this that made many to conclude that she was warming up to Narc.

Her entry in the race pits her against her step-daughter Kethi Kilonzo, who wants to take the seat on a Cord alliance ticket.

The timing of Mrs Kilonzo’s announcement is the talk of the town. Critics say she was being groomed by the ruling coalition due to the fact that she chose to make her stand known at a function in which President Kenyatta was the chief guest.

Her husband died on April 27, a month after his election as Makueni governor on a Wiper party ticket.