Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria could just have kicked off a new storm in his Jubilee Party after he publicly declared support for the Wiper candidate in the upcoming Embakasi South by-elections
On Tuesday, Kuria posted on Facebook that he was throwing his weight behind Wiper candidate Musili Mawathe “in the spirit of the handshake and the Building Bridges Initiative”.
“…myself and like-minded leaders, in our individual capacities, have today resolved to support Mawathe to retain his seat,” Kuria said on Tuesday.\
He was accompanied by MPs Charles Njagua (Starehe), George Theuri (Embakasi West), Simon Mbugua (EALA), Makali Mulu (Kitui Central) and former Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama.
This comes just days after Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju said that in the spirit of the handshake, the ruling party would not field candidates in Embakasi South and Ugenya.
Tuju’s statement was interpreted in various circles to mean the President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party was giving Raila Odinga’s ODM a smooth ride at the by-elections.
Mawathe will go against ODM’s Irshad Sumra, with Raila’s party already having warned its NASA affiliates – Wiper, ANC and Ford-Kenya – not to field candidates.
Tuju in a statement on Friday evening said the decision was arrived at after lengthy consultations by its leadership.
When Jubilee Party posted the statement on Twitter, ODM retweeted with the comment, “Thank you, Jubilee Party.”
The Embakasi East constituency was declared vacant by the Supreme Court that nullified Mawathe win.
The court nullified the election on December 21 last year on grounds there was no evidence to support the results the IEBC used to declare Mawathe winner.