Fresh cracks have emerged in Wiper party in Taita Taveta county over who should fly the flag in the gubernatorial race.
Former Taita Taveta Senator Dan Mwazo, media personality Patience Nyange and George Mwandembo are eyeing the Wiper ticket.
Sources within the party, however, revealed that Wiper is planning to give a direct ticket to Mwazo to avoid primaries.
County Wiper secretary general Peter Shambi said the coordinating committee was engaging aspirants to arrive at a common agreement.
“We have decided that Wiper will not subject candidates to primaries. We want to use the consensus approach,” Shambi told the Star on phone on Tuesday.
Shambi confirmed that the party had agreed to hand over the ticket to Mwazo following an opinion poll that placed him first in the race.
He said many of the respondents in the opinion polls preferred Mwazo’s candidature over Nyange, further pointing out that the party would only field a strong candidate.
“The opinion poll was meant to inform the coordinating committee on who is the best candidate in the race. The rest shall be convinced to support the one picked by the party," he said.
Shambi, however, dismissed claims circulating on social media that Nyange had been kicked out of the party.
He said talks were ripe to convince the Chevening scholar to either deputise Mwazo or vie for the Woman Representative position.
Nyange was the first woman to declare her interest to unseat Governor Granton Samboja.
The former BBC journalist on Monday claimed she is being pressured by party officials to drop her bid in favour of Mwazo.
Nyange, however, maintained that she will not pull out of the race.
She further threatened to ditch the Kalonzo Musyoka-led party if there was no fairness in selecting candidates.
"They want me to go for the deputy position or to vie for the Woman Rep seat. I am focused on the governor seat and not any other," she said.
Following the recent fall out within the party, Shambi said that gubernatorial hopeful Mwandembo has already left the party and the talks only involve Mwazo and Nyange.
Mwandembo is set to fight for the seat on the Democratic Action Party of Kenya.
The gubernatorial race is expected to shape up once the candidates publicly announce their running mates.
None of the 14 candidates has picked their running mate yet.
The aspirants include incumbent Governor Samboja, former governor John Mruttu, Mwatate legislator Andrew Mwadime and former senator Dan Mwazo.
Other candidates are Patience Nyange, Rachael Mwakazi, George Mwandembo, Stephen Mwakesi, Elijah Mwandoe, Agnes Mwang'ombe, Faustin Mghendi, Godino Mwasaru and Onsemus Mwinzi.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
