Rivalry between MP Wainaina, Governor Nyoro escalates as race for top Kiambu seat heats up
New gubernatorial race entrants have altered the political arithmetic in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s home county.
At the centre of the race to capture the top seat are 1,180,920 voters and a battle of titans pitting four main contestants.
The race is gradually gaining steam with frontrunners employing various strategies to popularise themselves.
The sitting governor James Nyoro, a beneficiary of the impeachment of Ferdinand Waititu will face Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina alias Jungle, former governor William Kabogo and the sitting Senator Kimani Wamatangi in the 2022 election.
While governor Nyoro is seeking to make a second stab, Thika town MP Wainaina and senator Wamatangi will be making their first attempt at the seat. 2
On the other hand, first county governor Kabogo will be seeking another term after a resounding defeat by the now-disgraced governor Ferdinand Waititu.
Waititu garnered 716,336 votes against Kabogo's 192,045 votes in the 2017 election.
Governor Nyoro is hoping to ride on development projects executed by the county for the last five years to woo the voters.
Among some of the projects achieved by his administration include the construction of hospitals and county efforts in the fight against Covid-19.
Nyoro will also be riding on rehabilitation of roads infrastructure amounting to at least 1000 kilometres of tarmac.
“We are not tiring and are very much actively delivering projects that improve the lives of our people. We are ready to ensure that Kiambu shines again before the end of my tenure and from our track record, it's evident that we have and will continue to deliver,” Nyoro said.
Meanwhile, political rivalry between governor Nyoro and MP Wainaina has been heightening since Wainaina declared interest in the seat with the duo fighting publicly.
The raging row implicating county officials for allegedly sabotaging the MP’s development projects among them bodaboda shades that he has been putting up in Gatundu North, South and Ruiru Constituencies.
“I have been delivering the shade projects as requested by the motorbike operators from various parts of the county. It’s sad that some people have been pulling them down at night. It’s barbaric for anyone to fight developments,” he said.
This year, Wainaina was named the best performing MP by the Mizani Africa Awards, a milestone he attributed to infrastructural development projects that he has initiated in his constituency.
“I have managed to transform my constituency’s education sector for the past three years by focusing on doing facelifts for dilapidated classrooms and equipping them with desks and other materials to help learners,” he said a while back.
