COUNTY POLITICS: How Kiambu Governor William Kabogo met his Waterloo in primaries

Kiambu Governor William Kabogo talks to journalists soon after casting his vote in the Jubilee Party nominations at St George primary school in Ruiru on April 25, 2017. Mr Kabogo lost the nominations to Mr Ferdinand Waititu. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kiambu Governor William Kabogo was sure that Mr Ferdinand Waititu would never be the Kiambu governor and at subsequent functions, Mr Kabogo said the MP would not be in the ballot.
  • In an attempt to bar Mr Ferdinand Waititu from contesting, Mr Kabogo unsuccessfully challenged his academic qualifications in court.
  • On Tuesday evening, a subdued Mr Kabogo conceded defeat during a press conference at his secretariat at Garden Estate.
  • Mr Kabogo claimed the nominations were a sham, saying that he had even petitioned the party over alleged irregularities but his grievances were ignored.

On September 17, 2015, during a ceremony attended by Deputy President William Ruto in Gatundu South to mark Muhoho High School’s golden jubilee, Kiambu Governor William Kabogo, brimming with pride, gushed: “I may not know who will be the governor of Kiambu in 2017, but I know who will not be.”

The thinly veiled statement was directed at his bitter rival and Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu, who was in attendance, and who, with the backing of MPs and ward representatives had stepped up his bid to oust the governor.

The flamboyant politician was sure that Mr Waititu would never be the Kiambu governor and at subsequent functions, Mr Kabogo said the MP would not be in the ballot.

And in an attempt to bar the MP from contesting, the governor unsuccessfully challenged his academic qualifications in court.

But one-and-a half years later, these remarks have come to haunt Mr Kabogo after he received a humiliating defeat in the Jubilee Party primaries from Mr Waititu.

CONCEDED DEFEAT

On Tuesday evening, a subdued Mr Kabogo conceded defeat during a press conference at his secretariat at Garden Estate. He threw in the hat even before the final results were announced.

He wished Mr Waititu well saying, he “would most probably be the next Kiambu governor”.

But its Governor Kabogo’s vaunted pride, arrogance and hard-headedness, aided by a spirited campaign by his opponents, that is said to have cost him the Jubilee ticket, which is as good as winning the August election.

Still, some were caught by surprise at the outcome of the primaries in which Mr Waititu was voted overwhelmingly even in Mr Kabogo’s perceived strongholds.

Notably, at St George’s Primary School in Ruiru, which is his polling centre, Mr Kabogo got 469 votes against Mr Waititu’s 870 votes.

The loser claimed the nominations were a sham, saying that he had even petitioned the party over alleged irregularities but his grievances were ignored.

SPARKED OUTRAGE

Mr Kabogo recently sparked outrage by declaring that the Deputy President should not expect an automatic support from central Kenya.

Without mentioning names, he claimed that there were powerful people who do not want him to be the next Kiambu governor.

The victor, Mr Waititu, had no kind words for the man, known in Kiambu derisively as “Mbogo”, and said: “He and his people are too proud and arrogant.

They have always run the county as a private entity. That is unacceptable.” He thanked the electorate for having faith in him.

Kabogo’s loss is also partly attributed to the work of a campaign machine that flooded the social media with claims that the governor had disparaged women.

DAMAGING ALLEGATIONS

Mr Kabogo called a press conference over the weekend to deny the damaging allegations. He moved from TV station to TV station denying this, but it had stuck.

One of the clips doing the rounds, was from January 2014, in which Mr Kabogo, while commissioning a water project at Kangoya village in Kiambu sub-county, said that unmarried people should not seek elective posts. The governor later said this was a misinterpretation.

The remark was directed at his nemesis Thika MP Alice N’gan’ga, whom he had accused of sponsoring mass protests against increased levies by the county government. 

A week to the nominations, Mr Kabogo who had ran a well-oiled gubernatorial campaign, was still battling reports that he insulted voters, by allegedly telling them to “queue in two lines like a dog’s breast to receive handouts” from him.

Others were that he had given Sh400 as handouts to women, part of which he allegedly told them to use to buy undergarments.

DAMAGE DONE

Two days to the primaries, Mr Kabogo, called a press conference, and in two live TV interviews denied it all. But the damage had been done. It was too late.

“The words are being maliciously propagated by my political opponents. It is well known that, I William Kabogo holds all women in high regard,” he said.

Mr Kabogo made a controversial debut in elective politics in 2002 when he was elected as the Juja MP.

Since then, he has courted controversy that has put him at loggerheads with the electorate and other leaders.

After being sworn in, the politician who survived two botched impeachment bids, stirred the hornet’s nest when he shifted county headquarters from Kiambu to Thika town.

RESCINDS DECISION

This sparked outrage among the residents and leaders who demanded that he rescinds his decision.

The county Budget Appropriation Bills did not go without fireworks, after locals decried that it had proposed punitive levies, a move that sparked mass protests by traders across the county.

Mr Kabogo’s administration found itself grappling with allegations touching on underdevelopment and accusations of misappropriation of public funds.

Pundits believe that this was his undoing. Some say, he brought it all on himself.