In a surprise rebellious move, another Jubilee leader has gone against the party’s choice in Kibra by-elections to endorse a rival candidate fronted by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Speaking on Citizen TV’s Daybreak show Tuesday, the former senate speaker Beatrice Elachi outrightly defied Jubilee party leadership’s choice of former football sensation McDonald Mariga.
Elachi joins former Starehe Constituency MP Maina Kamanda who declared support for ODM candidate Imran Okoth days after Jubilee officially unveiled Mariga as the party’s choice.
Elachi faulted Jubilee for what she termed as an attempt to derail the gains made by the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth who died after a short battle with colorectal cancer.
“My values don’t allow me (to support Mariga in Kibra), ” Elachi stated, adding that Jubilee party never campaigned for her when she vied for Dagoretti North parliamentary seat in 2017.
Elachi lost to current MP Simba Arati- an ODM party member, despite garnering over 30,000 votes for President Kenyatta.
Adding on to Elachi’s sentiments, Wajir Women Representative Fatuma Gedi (PDR) stated that Mariga was not even a registered voter in Kibra and would add no value to the women and children of the constituency.
“Mariga says he wants to give back, what did he give back when he had a better platform as an international player,” Gedi quipped, ” He can’t even express himself.”
She added that Jubilee would have withdrawn from the Kibra by-election in the spirit of handshake, considering the decision by ODM to withdraw its candidate in the Wajir West by-election in April.
However, Isiolo senator Fatuma Dulo stuck to her guns saying the handshake did not collapse political parties, and that Jubilee had a right to field a candidate of its choice.
Campaigns are beginning to take shape in Kibra after IEBC cleared Mariga last week following a claim that he was irregularly registered as a voter in Starehe Constituency. As things stand, Mariga cannot vote in Kibra but his name will appear as one of the seat contenders.