It is now official that the immediate former Kajiado governor David Nkedianye is headed to Jubilee.
It has been revealed that talks that immediately started after the August 8 election yielded fruits for the Jubilee side after Nkedianye reached a deal with Deputy President Ruto on Wednesday last week.
Rumours have been rife about Nkedianye’s defection to Jubilee from the ODM party but no one from the former governor’s side was willing to be open about it.
A close ally of Governor Joseph ole Lenku confirmed on Saturday that talks are in high gear for Ruto to visit Nkedianye’s home on Tuesday, next week.
“My boss has been involved in all the meetings between Nkedianye and Deputy President. Lenku has also been having secret meetings with Nkedianye in and outside the county and President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ruto have been receiving updates from the governor.” .
Lenku’s confidant who asked to remain anonymous said he is aware of rumours making rounds in Kajiado that the governor is not part of the negotiations.
“I am speaking here on behalf of the governor. Lenku is having Tuesday’s program for DP Ruto. Ruto is expected at Nkedianye’s home early in the day, and thereafter, we will be letting you know exactly when the former governor will be expected either at DP’s residence or State House for official reception,” he said.
The confidant confirmed that Nkedianye spent the entire Saturday meeting with his ODM political associates as he prepares himself psychologically for the expected defection.
“As I am speaking to you now, Nkedianye is meeting his former campaign managers as a way of preparing himself for what will happen next week,” he said.
Nkedianye’s spokesman, Kasaine ole Meikoki, who met with the former governor for close to two hours on Friday afternoon, said his boss’s defection is no longer rumours but a reality.
“He briefed me sufficiently on the negotiations that have been going on between him and DP Ruto. He told me everything including the stakes involved."
Jubilee's offer
Meikoki said Nkedianye told him the Jubilee side offered him several options before striking a deal.
“They told him to withdraw the pending election petition against Lenku and then he will be offered a cabinet secretary position after October 26.
"Jubilee will also reimburse him all the election expenses he incurred in the last general election,” Meikoki said.
Meikoki said Nkedianye’s think-tank team made it clear to the former governor that he would be going alone to Jubilee.
“We told him, point-blank, that he is going alone and warned him not to try and speak to Nasa followers into joining his bandwagon. He made the worst mistake ever in his political career by gambling to the rules of the ruling party,” said an angry Meikoki.
He said the decision Nkedianye was taking is personal and wished him well in Jubilee.
Quoting the late former Mozambican
president Samora Matchell, Meikoki said: “Cutting the tallest tree in the forest does not necessarily finish the forest. As a matter of fact, it will give the younger trees a chance to grow tall and big”.
Nkedianye’s departure will leave the ODM house in Kajiado in shreds after the party’s county chair Daniel Osoi led other senior party officials to Jubilee two weeks ago.
They included Esther Somoire, Daniel Tenaai and Kakuta Maimai.
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But even as Nkedianye is preparing to cross over to Jubilee, ODM diehards have described his action as “tumbocractic”, meaning
self-centred.
Meikoki said Nkedianye's and Engineer Joseph ole Nkadayo and Francis ole Meja's promise of CS positions by Jubilee are "unrealistic”
because three cabinet secretaries cannot come from the same county.