• His come back follows the withdrawal from the race by his rival, Nairobi Majority leader Abi Hassan alias Guyo.
• He became the Embakasi Central MP during the 2013 general election on The National Alliance (TNA) party ticket.
Former Nairobi Mayor John Ndirangu has joined the race to succeed Benjamin Mwangi as Embakasi Central MP in the August polls.
His comeback follows the withdrawal from the race by his rival, Nairobi Majority leader Abi Hassan alias Guyo.
“We are back, better, refined and ready to serve the people of Embakasi Central,” Ndirangu said.
Ndirangu was among the congregants at a church service attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Pipeline last Sunday.
The politician is not new to city politics having served as the Mayor of Nairobi between 1999 to 2001.
He became the Embakasi Central MP during the 2013 general election on The National Alliance (TNA) party ticket after beating his closest rival, Lameck Siage of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) by 37,168 votes against Siage’s 20,623.
However, in 2017, Ndirangu lost in the Jubilee party nominations which were won by the current Embakasi central MP, Benjamin Mwangi.
Embakasi Sub-county has five wards; Matopeni/Spring Valley, Komarock, Kayole North, Kayole Central and Kayole South.
In 2017, the constituency had 131, 991 registered voters.
But Ndirangu's political career as an MP was not without upheavals.
During his tenure between 2013 and 2017, he risked losing his seat after his abuse of office conviction returned to haunt him.
The Commission on Administrative Justice, commonly known as the Ombudsman, wanted him declared unfit to hold public office after he was found guilty on two counts.
The Ombudsman told High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) unlawfully cleared Ndirangu to run for the post during the March 4, 2013, general elections.
This was in spite of the complaints it had filed with the electoral body, its lawyer said.
Ndirangu was fined Sh100,000 by the anti-corruption court in Nairobi.
He did not challenge the findings before the Court of Appeal.
The former mayor will be seeking Jubilee's ticket during the party nominations this month.