Jubilee on Wednesday suffered a blow after two Nyeri gubernatorial aspirants ditched the party.
Peter Munyiri, who joined Chama Cha Kazi and Gachara Kamanga, who will be vying as an independent candidate, have thrown their hat in the ring for the Nyeri top seat.
Both Kamanga and Munyiri had already paid Sh 500,000 each nomination fees.
Kamanga, who was until his defection the chairman of the Nyeri Jubilee aspirants caucus, said he left the party after consulting his supporters.
“After consultations with my supporters,I have decided to quit the Jubilee Party. I will run for Nyeri gubernatorial seat as an independent candidate,” he said.
“The opinion of the electorates is very important. I'm giving residents of Nyeri the opportunity to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice while still voting for me as their governor.”
Munyiri also said he took the decision to ditch Jubilee after consulting his supporters.
“This is an informed decision from the ground. People have spoken. We've listened. 'Tusonge mbele sasa' (Let’s move ahead),” Munyiri said on his social media platforms.
Munyiri was earlier in PNU before moving to Jubilee.
He said that he was steadfastly focused on serving all residents if elected and will give the fight against poverty first priority.
He said his government will be an all inclusive one guided by an elaborate vision for all sectors.
“Bold moves must be made at times to thwart any efforts by detractors from killing our realistic vision,” he said.
However, there are those who think they defected to avoid party nominations.
Techno Githinji, who is vying for the Nyeri Town parliamentary seat, said reports that Senator Ephraim Maina will be contesting for the governor's seat on a Jubilee ticket may have led to the duo's exit.
He said Kamanga and Munyiri have invested a lot on the party and popularising themselves but knew they could not beat Maina in the party nominations.
“They wanted to be on the ballot and so they had to shift," Githinji said.
Nelson Maina who has also been following the county politics keenly said their defection has something to do with the entry of the Nyeri senator.
Maina said the billionaire businessman is a member of the Mount Kenya Foundation backing Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga and could be their favourite candidate.
“I don’t know what happened in 2017. But no one wants to go for nominations. Especially with the new law on party hopping,” Maina said.
Kamanga, Munyiri and the senator will now be facing off with Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga of UDA and industrialist Thuo Mathenge of The New Democrats in the general election.
(Edited by Francis Wadegu)
