•Speaking in Citizen on Wednesday, Waiguru said Jubilee has a lot of work to do in terms of revamping the party ahead of the election.
•“The truth of the matter is that defending my seat if the polls were held today would be very difficult, and that is the truth of the matter, unless something changes in Jubilee,” she said.
Image: TWITTER/ANNE WAIGURU
Defending my seat on Jubilee ticket if the polls were held today would be very difficult, Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru has said.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Wednesday, Waiguru said Jubilee has a lot of work to do in terms of revamping the party.
“The truth of the matter is that defending my seat if the polls were held today would be very difficult, and that is the truth of the matter, unless something changes in Jubilee,” she said.
“If I ran today on a Jubilee ticket and someone else ran on a different party, even if people felt I had performed , it would be hard to convince them to vote for me.”
Waiguru said the party needs to reconnect with the people emotionally in the Mt Kenya area before it is too late.
“We need to figure out where we went wrong so we do not find ourselves in such a situation again as it affects all of us."Anne Waiguru
“Jubilee needs to look internally at its issues in order to be acceptable to the people of Mt Kenya. Jubilee has a lot of work in revamping the party and we need to do it fairly fast, revamping the party and resonating with the people and giving the party back to the people,” she said.
The governor said the Jubilee party still stands a chance based on its infrastructure, resources, networks, and reach, but it would need some serious work.
Waiguru said to be in a position where the President and his DP are not working together is very unfortunate.
“We need to figure out where we went wrong so we do not find ourselves in such a situation again as it affects all of us,” she said.
"There are many nuts and bolts and complexity in running the government but when they(Ruto and Uhuru) are not working together we need to think about how to resolve it."
She said Jubilee should also find out what they did to fuel the discord or the collapse of the party.
"It affects the whole population and its not a good thing. Going forward, whoever chooses a running mate will have to ensure cordial relationship while considering many factors," she said.
But she did not disclose whether she would consider joining DP William Ruto’s party UDA.
“For now, I am spending time on the ground listening to what the people want. One needs to be careful to make the right decision to survive politically. I am asking my people which vehicle’ to use to secure my seat,” she said.
Two days ago, Wiguru also reiterated that she is unlikely to join UDA party.
However, she said it is also too early to say she cannot join UDA.
"I don’t think it’s the right time to have that conversation. I can’t say I would, I can’t say I would not. This is politics, it’s unlikely but a bit early. Let’s see what the ground looks like," she said.
The governor went on to say it is the people who will decide her next political move.
She noted that re-election is not entirely dependent on how well one has performed and that sometimes the seats are negotiated.
The county chief has recently signalled to change her 2022 political course especially after the court setbacks that roiled the Building Bridges Initiative process to amend the constitution.
There are fears that the decision by a top civil servant to throw the heart in the ring for the Kirinyaga governor's seat coupled with the UDA wave could force Waiguru into reviewing his political game plan.
The governor has been one of the key critics of Ruto's hustler nation movement and has been seen as an influential Mt Kenya figure likely to shape President Uhuru Kenyatta's succession politics.