Jubilee MPs brand Peter Kenneth a spoiler

Some Jubilee leaders have dismissed former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth’s plan to vie for the Nairobi governor's seat, accusing him of being insincere in his support for the party.

Senators Kithure Kindiki (Tharaka-Nithi) and Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria said that although they welcomed Mr Kenneth’s defection to Jubilee, all aspirants in the party are equal he should stop feeling special.

“We fought for this government as they fought the government. You need to come down to the level of others as pride will take you nowhere,” said Senator Kindiki.
Speaking in Kiria-ini town, Mathioya, after a church service, Mr Kindiki said the former MP should have started campaigning for President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto if he was truly a Jubilee supporter.

He urged Mr Kenneth to join the other Jubilee aspirants and agree on who would deliver the Nairobi gubernatorial seat.

For his part, Senator Sonko claimed Mr Kenneth recently tried to convince him to drop his bid for the Nairobi governor's seat but he refused.

“After I said no, he called Nairobi MPs in Gatanga and tried to persuade them to endorse him. They tried to call the other aspirants to step down for him but they refused,” he said.

DIVIDE CENTRAL VOTE

He accused Mr Kenneth of being used by other people to divide the central Kenya vote in the 2013 elections, adding that he was among leaders who wanted the President and his deputy jailed by the ICC.

Mr Kuria said they would not allow “someone from nowhere to just come and get the seat”.

“In 2013, he was being used by Western countries; let him know that we chased a white man and we shall not allow to be ruled by a white man,” he said.

At the same time, Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru and nominated MP Johnson Sakaja have pledged to work together to ensure that Jubilee wins all the top seats.

“We have agreed amongst ourselves, Sakaja, Bishop Wanjiru, Mike Sonko and myself, that whoever wins the nomination will have our backing.

“If the people of Nairobi want someone from Central region, we have two of us, if they want someone from Western we have Sakaja and if it is someone from Eastern then we have Sonko,” said Mr Waweru during the launch of mass voter registration in Gatundu South.

The leaders said Mr Kenneth must apologise for opposing President Kenyatta in 2013 if he wished to get Jubilee support.

“This mzungu used to write letters to The Hague saying the President and his deputy should be jailed but now has the guts [to try] to run on the President's party, he should be ashamed of himself,” said Mr Waweru.

“When other leaders agreed to work together to ensure Jubilee victory in 2013, Kenneth decided to work with outside forces against Jubilee. If you want any seat in the Jubilee party, you must first repent or else shelve your ambition,” Senator Kindiki said.

Mr Sonko, Mr Sakaja and Mr Waweru, who have also declared their interest in the Nairobi governorship, told Kenneth to keep off Nairobi politics, saying they had agreed to support whoever among them wins the party's nomination.