Bad news for Jubilee Party in Nairobi as Kidero benefits from Sonko-Kenneth beef

dennis kibet 08:25 - 21 March 2017

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero (left), Kasarani MP John Njoroge (centre) and Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Peter Kenneth (right) during a church service in Ruai on January 29, 2017.

According to the latest poll by Infotrak, Kidero would garner 35.3 % of the Nairobi electorate with Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko second with 23% followed closely by Peter Kenneth at 20.2%.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero will retain the Nairobi gubernatorial seat should elections be held today.

This is according to the latest poll by Infotrak that showed Kidero would garner 35.3 % of the Nairobi electorate with Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko second with 23% followed closely by Peter Kenneth at 20.2%.

Eight hundred respondents were sampled with a margin of error of -/+ 3.5 at 95 per cent degree of confidence.

Others are Miguna Miguna with 1.2 per cent support, Margret Wanjiru at 0.9 per cent, Esther Passaris with 0.7 per cent and Denis Waweru last with 0.6 per cent.

However, a whopping 18% of voters remain undecided with less than five months to go to the general elections.

The latest poll will be good news for the incumbent whose Nasa ticket is all virtually guaranteed and is looking at the side lines as the Jubilee candidates mudsling each other.

Jubilee dilemma

The poll proves a headache for the Jubilee Party who want to have the city boss as one of their own.

The poll reveals that a joint Sonko-Kenneth ticket will guarantee victory for Jubilee in Nairobi.

However, the bitter infighting between Sonko and Kenneth proves the scenario more unlikely.

Sonko on an interview with Citizen’s Sunday Live used unsavoury remarks to refer to Peter Kenneth and said that he will never step down for former Gatanga legislator.

Split camps

The Sonko-Kenneth beef has split the Jubilee Party right in the middle into two camps.

One of the camps is led by the former Gatanga legislator Peter Kenneth who has several Members of Parliament including influential Starehe MP Maina Kamanda, Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan, Nairobi Women’s Representative Racheal Shebesh and nominated Senator Beatrice Elachi.

The other camp known as “Team Nairobi” is led by Sonko and has nominated MP Johnson Sakaja, Bishop Wanjiru and Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru.

President Kenyatta has already warned the leaders who have formed camps in the Nairobi Governor's seat contest to stop their wrangles otherwise they risk losing the seat come the August elections.