Narc-Kenya chairperson Martha Karua, pictured, and PNU Alliance candidate Yusuf Hassan openly clashed in a church over the age factor for candidates vying for the May 23 Kamukunji parliamentary seat, as campaigns for the by-election entered the homestretch. FILE PHOTO
By OLIVER MATHENGE, omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Sunday, May 15 2011 at 14:13
Posted Sunday, May 15 2011 at 14:13
Narc Kenya party chairperson Martha Karua and PNU Alliance candidate Yusuf Hassan openly clashed in a church over the age of contenders as campaigns for the May 23 Kamukunji by-elections entered the homestretch.
The Gichugu MP had called on the congregation at the African Independent Pentecostal Church in Bahati to vote for her party’s candidate Brian Weke because he is a young person.
But when it was Mr Hassan’s time to speak, he tore into the statement comparing his ambition to that of Ms Karua’s presidential bid.
“If it is about age and voting for young people then may be my sister (Ms Karua) here should also drop her quest to be president because we are the same age,” said Mr Hassan.
The mid-morning campaigns at the church were filled with 2012 elections overtones with those on the PNU Alliance side urging Ms Karua to join them and face Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta at the party’s nominations.
“This people (the Somali community) have supported us in the past. We must support them now knowing that we will need their support if we are to win the presidency in 2012. We will need the support of the counties in northern Kenya and we must therefore have something to show for them to support us,” said Embakasi MP Ferdinard Waititu who represented Mr Kenyatta.
His sentiments were shared by Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni who told the congregation that the current campaigns must be mirrored to the 2012 contest. He added that Ikolomani and Kamukunji were important to PNU as it would help balance its Parliamentary strength with ODM.
“The problems that we find ourselves in today are because we failed to conduct joint nomination in 2007 and ended up splitting votes at the ballot. This must now stop,” said Mr Kioni.
But Ms Karua dismissed the issue saying that she was ready to go it alone in 2012 and urged the congregation to support Mr Weke as part confidence in Narc-Kenya ahead of next year’s elections.
“Those telling me to unite with them ahead of the elections must forget about it. I will be on the ballot and we must give Kenyans a chance to make their choice of who they think should be president,” said Ms Karua.
Ms Karua also clashed with Mr Lee Muchiri who has been Narc-Kenya’s Organising Secretary. Mr Muchiri openly campaigned for Mr Hassan after introducing himself as a Narc-Kenya member but Ms Karua dismissed him saying that he had been expelled from the party.
The Kamukunji seat fell vacant after former MP Simon Mbugua lost an election petition to ODM’s Ibrahim Ahmed. The race for the seat is taking shape with Mr Hassan, Mr Ahmed and Mr Weke emerging as the front runners.
Other candidates in the race are Muthoni Kihara (GNU), Mr James Matagaro (Kenya Social Congress), Mr David Waihiga (Agano) and Mr Daniel Omao (Ford People).
The by-election is crucial for the major parties as many want to use it to gauge their strength ahead of next year’s elections. The parliamentary seat is also crucial for the control of Nairobi politics.
Currently ODM has four MPs in Nairobi — Mr Odinga (Langata), Mr Fred Gumo (Westlands), Ms Elizabeth Ongoro (Kasarani) and Bishop Margaret Wanjiru (Starehe).
PNU on the other hand has Dagoretti (Beth Mugo) and Embakasi (Ferdinand Waititu). Makadara is held by Mr Gideon Mbuvi of Narc-Kenya.
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