By PATRICK NZIOKA pnzioka@ke.nationmedia.com and JOHN NJAGI jnjagi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, December 3 2011 at 22:55
Posted Saturday, December 3 2011 at 22:55
President Kibaki’s public endorsement of a civic
candidate in his Othaya constituency in last Monday’s by-election
continues to elicit mixed reactions with new reports suggesting that
last-minute meetings attended by an influential party activist could
have swayed the vote.
Little-known retired schoolteacher Zachary Kiragu
fended off a strong challenge from Grand National Union (GNU) candidate
George Maina to win the by-election after receiving 1,486 votes against
Mr Maina’s 1,284 votes.
Several accounts in Othaya have it that the strong
challenge by the GNU party candidate prompted PNU strategists to bring
political activist Mary Wambui into the mix.
Ms Wambui camped in the area during the day, campaigning and meeting delegations from Othaya at night in Nyeri town.
One such meeting at a Nyeri hotel on Sunday evening is thought to have been the turning point.
The meeting was reportedly attended by more than
100 people, including GNU officials from Othaya and others from the
party candidate’s village.
During the meeting, which went on until early hours
the next day, Ms Wambui is said to have implored them to abandon their
candidate and vote for the PNU man.
Those who followed the campaigns in Othaya say the
youth in the area were not comfortable with Mr Kiragu whom they saw as
representing the past.
Mr Maina, his GNU opponent, is in his early 40s.
PNU, it is claimed, was late in gauging the mood in the area which gave GNU a chance to make inroads.
But the President’s uncharacteristically aggressive
campaign for the PNU candidate has divided opinion with pundits
grappling to explain his stance.
It came as a surprise to Mr Kiragu that none other
than the President himself took charge of a situation that proved to be a
game changer for the candidate.
“I have never seen anything like it before because
the President rarely campaigns for anyone. It was a blessing from God,”
said Mr Kiragu.
But Mr Kiragu might just be a pawn in a wider game
plan involving the politics of Nyeri county and the rivalry between
Mathira MP Ephraim Maina and Nderitu Gachagua, the former MP.
Supporters of Mr Kiragu had complained that GNU leaders from Mathira were taking an unwelcome interest in the civic seat.
This was a point they drove home at a meeting between
councillors and Mr Kibaki, also the Othaya MP, at Harambee House in
Nairobi.
But Mr Peter Kingara, an aspirant for the Othaya seat, sees nothing wrong with Mathira politicians taking an interest in Othaya.
“As much as we don’t like their politics, we are in
the defeated me Nyeri County, and all areas in the county will have to
work together to develop it,” he said.
However, even that does not sufficiently explain Mr Kibaki’s aggressive campaigning for the PNU man.
GNU is in President Kibaki’s wing of the coalition,
and a victory for them would not necessarily have been seen as a loss
for Mr Kibaki.
In the past, the President has remained on the
sidelines when some of his longtime allies like Mr Matere Keriri and Mr
Matu Wamae came up against strong challengers in their constituencies.
Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri, who together with Mr Gachagua were key figures in the GNU campaign, told the Sunday Nation:
“We have a lot of respect for the President, and we cannot go to Othaya
to campaign for our candidate at a time when the President is also in
the area campaigning”.
Mr Kiunjuri, however, suggested that his candidate had been intimidated by the State machinery. 
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