The race for Nairobi governor continues to attract many people with less than a year to the elections.
The city’s top seat has attracted eight people so far, all eying to unseat the incumbent Evans Kidero of ODM. Former National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende and businesswoman Esther Passaris are the latest entrants into the crowded field.
Kidero is headed to be Cord’s sole candidate since nobody in the coalition has challenged him for the opposition ticket. Jubilee ticket has attracted five people. They are Water CS Eugene Wamalwa, Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru, Senator Mike Sonko, nominated MP and TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja and former Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiru. Opposition chief Raila Odinga’s former aide Miguna Miguna has also said he will run for Nairobi governor. It is not clear the party he will use.
Marende, who is also former Emuhaya MP, declared he will run for the city’s top job in a church service in Nairobi on Sunday, but did not disclose the party he will use. “Unlike some of the contenders, I am tested. I have served as a Speaker and MP. I am equal to the task,” he said.
Last week, Passaris, who ran for the woman representative post in the March 4, 2013, general election and lost, declared her interest to unseat Kidero.
Passaris said she will neither use Cord nor Jubilee but will form a new political outfit, Harambee Democratic Party.
There are about 1.8 million registered voters in the capital. In 2013, Kidero won the seat with 692,483 votes against his nearest competitor Ferdinand Waititu’s 617,839 votes.
Businessman Jimnah Mbaru took third place with 52,084 votes while former Nairobi Town Clerk Philip Kisia came fourth with 5,182 votes. Politics in the city has always taken the shape of the national politics, with residents voting along ethnic and party lines.