Raila regrets accepting Uhuru decision to front Igathe for Nairobi gubernatorial seat
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Raila admits Polycarp Igathe was not the right candidate for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat, highlighting power struggle in Azimio ahead of the 2022 General Election
Raila admits Polycarp Igathe was not the right candidate for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat, highlighting power struggle in Azimio ahead of the 2022 General Election
The Azimio leader said the coalition would have won all the key seats in Nairobi County had the party settled on a more competitive candidate.
Speaking to a group of religious leaders at Westlands Primary School in Nairobi on Wednesday, Raila expressed regret for endorsing corporate executive Polycarp Igathe as the party’s nominee for the Nairobi governor’s seat.
Raila claims that choosing Igathe was an error of judgment that still plagues him today.
The choice to support Igathe to compete with United Democratic Alliance (UDA) governor Johnson Sakaja was mostly ascribed to former president Uhuru Kenyatta, who chaired the Azimio council.
“We did not get the governor seat, not because we didn’t have people, but the candidate we had was not the right one, and that is why,” Raila said.
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“Because if we won senator, we won women rep, and we won the presidency, how then did we not win governor? We could have won by far,” he added.
Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi was compelled to shelve his ambitions for the gubernatorial seat in favour of Polycarp Igathe.
He was considered the best option to compete with UDA’s Sakaja, was set to run on Raila’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party, still under the Azimio umbrella.
“I am the one regretting for telling Tim to leave the seat. And Tim was humble because I told him to go for the running mate, but he told me no. He told me to let him return to Westlands. Now we are focused ahead.”
According to Raila, the coalition’s failure to clinch the Nairobi gubernatorial position was disappointing, arguing that the coalition could have easily clinched the county’s top seat if a favourable candidate had been chosen.
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