Wycliffe Nyamasege
Fresh details have emerged regarding Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja’s bid for the city’s governor seat in the August 9 General Election.
While many have been associating Sakaja with the Amani National Congress (ANC) party, the ‘Super’ Senator holds he is a member of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), on whose ticket he intends to vie for the governor position.
The perception about Sakaja joining ANC can be traced to wrangles in the ruling Jubilee party that saw hundreds of members walk out in protest of the purge against Deputy President William Ruto’s allies in parliament.
As Ruto’s allies found a new home in UDA, Sakaja started hanging out with ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, and even went ahead to drum up support for his presidential ambitions.
However, speaking to The Star, Sakaja affirmed that he is a member of the UDA party, largely comprised of the Jubilee party’s splinter group.
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“I have never joined ANC. When I left Jubilee, I went straight to UDA,” Sakaja told the publication on Wednesday.
Interestingly, until Mudavadi joined forces with Ruto under the Kenya Kwanza Alliance in January this year, Sakaja represented ANC in the One Kenya Alliance (OKA) technical committee.
Sources in the know claim Sakaja and his Kakamega counterpart Cleophas Malala played a leading role in having Mudavadi ditch OKA to team up with Ruto ahead of the August polls.
Until Sakaja’s declaration, former Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiru was UDA’s sole governor aspirant.
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The Kenya Kwanza coalition is reportedly trying to negotiate a deal between the two aspirants to have one of them fly the alliance’s flag in the next election.
Sakaja, however, says he is ready to face off with Wanjiru in party primaries scheduled for Thursday, next week.
Whoever the alliance settles on will battle out with Azimio One Kenya coalition’s candidate in the gubernatorial race.
Those eyeing Azimio endorsement include governor Anne Kananu, businessman Richard Ngatia and businesswoman Agnes Kagure.
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