•While condemning the political hooliganism that is seemingly being met on leaders who campaign in their opponents perceived turfs, Wanjigi said he has been a victim of the same but the authorities gave a wide berth on his case.
•He further called on Kenyans to entangle themselves from an oppressive crop of leadership who for long have ran the country to the ground .He regretted that due to poor leadership, all basic commodities prices had sky rocketed as the most essential depleted in quantity thus pushing Kenyans to the edge.
Safina party presidential hopeful Jimi Wanjigi has criticised the authorities for being hypocritical and applying biases in dealing with the emerging political intolerance.
While condemning the political hooliganism being meted on leaders who campaign in their opponents perceived turfs, Wanjigi said he has been a victim but the authorities did not act.
In September, 2021 while campaigning in Migori for the ODM presidential ticket, a charged crowd hurled stones at him as they chanted ‘baba’ slogans.
'Baba' is a nickname for ODM party leader Raila Odinga.
This forced Wanjigi to duck the stone wielding crowd and abort his vote hunting mission.
In February, the businessman was roughed up and ejected from ODM’s national delegates conference at Kasarani.
Wanjigi ran for his safety at the Kasarani police station and blamed the party hierarchy for illegally removing his name from the membership list.
Speaking in Kutus, Kirinyaga, Wanjigi recounted the two events saying the authorities and party officials had ignored his tribulations. He, however, said he chose to let by-gones be by- gones and has since opened a new chapter in the Safina party.
“I abhor political intolerance because I have been a victim of the same when I was in ODM," he said.
"No one challenged or talked about the harassment that was meted out on me. Neither was disciplinary action taken against my oppressors. All in all, I choose to forgive them and pray for them."
Wanjigi said it was regrettable that in the modern political arena, some people had settled on primitive and retrogressive means of dealing with their political rivals.
While condemning the act that was meted on Raila in Uasin Gishu, Wanjigi advised Kenyans to have a change of mindset and learn to accommodate those with differing stands.
“We should start being mature in how we play our politics because I believe we have practiced politics for a considerable period since independence," he said.
"Let’s shun divisive and primitive politics .If you don’t like certain candidates you’d better not show up for their political meetings, rather than showing up and causing chaos."
Wanjigi called on Kenyans to disentangle themselves from an oppressive crop of leadership who for long have ran the country to the ground.
He regretted that due to poor leadership, all basic commodities prices had sky rocketed as the most essential depleted in quantity thus pushing Kenyans to the edge.
He said currently, the country is on its knees economic wise because it is cash-strapped.
The Safina presidential aspirant said Kenyans should prepare for the worst times as the situation would aggravate.
He blamed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government for the economic hardship facing the nation and termed it as one of the worst regimes Kenyans have ever witnessed.
He said the danger that is ahead in Kenya is more than Kenyans can imagine.
"When Kibaki was leaving the presidency, 38 out of 100 Kenyans could not put food on the table while under the current regime 53 cannot afford food," he said.
"This means the number of Kenyans who are being deprived of economic empowerment is soaring by the day.”
Wanjigi said none of the current crop of leaders had good plans for the country but were only interested in their own welfare.
He urged Kenyans to drain them into the sea of forgetfulness by failing to elect them in the August 9 poll.
He said he is ready to face his two perceived strong opponents—Raila and Deputy President William Ruto—whom he castigated for failure to inject impactful change in the lives of Kenyans despite occupying high ranking state positions.
“They have impoverished us for way too long and their time is up. Let Kenyans end their insatiable greed for power by rooting them out of these positions,” he said.
Wanjigi said he is committed to criss-crossing the country popularising his bid as he campaigns for the candidates vying for various positions on the Safina party ticket.
He was speaking at a Sunday service at the AIPCA Kutus.
During the service, Wanjigi delivered a car, a gift he had promised the church bishop when he last visited the church in October 2021.