By BILLY MUIRURI bmuiruri@ke.nationmedia.com ( email the author)
Posted Tuesday, January 29 2013 at 00:45
Posted Tuesday, January 29 2013 at 00:45
Candidates selected in the recently concluded nominations to run for various seats in Nairobi under The National Alliance (TNA) have rejected their governorship candidate.
The candidates and the losers in the nominations rejected the outgoing Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu and said they were considering “other options”.
The winners and losers in the nominations heckled and booed the former MP on Monday night at a meeting called by the party at Sagret Hotel in Milimani, Nairobi.
Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta boycotted the meeting called by party officials via Short Messages Service (SMS). The aspirants had arrived at the hotel as early as 6pm. The message had asked them to be prompt, as the meeting would start at 7pm. By midnight, Mr Kenyatta had not showed up. His aides were seen conversing in low tones as angry aspirants said the party had “wasted their time”.
The aspirants had responded to an SMS sent by Secretary General Onyango Oloo to meet at the hotel in the evening.
According to sources within the party, Mr Kenyatta was to address the candidates and the losers in an effort to forge a united front in the city against an onslaught by their competitors, The Coalition of Reform and Democracy (CORD).
The candidates shouted slogans in support of Mr Jimnah Mbaru, who lost to Mr Waititu in the primaries held on January 18.
According to TNA Nairobi organising Secretary, Caroline Mwaniki, the aspirants had felt disappointed by Mr Kenyatta’s failure to show up. She said the appearance of Mr Waititu, who the aspirants felt had won in a controversial nomination process only helped to work them up.
Mr Geoffrey Muya, the chairman of Vijana Tuko Pamoja, one of the major lobbies registered to campaign for Mr Kenyatta’s presidential bid, said the party’s presidential campaigns were doing badly in the city.
“These candidates want to be involved in the presidential campaigns. When you call them and fail to turn up when their rivals are all over town, they have every reason to feel disappointed,” Mr Muya told Nation.
He said the party was making a mistake to assume “Nairobi was safe”, when their rivals were running organised campaigns for bioth the gubernatorial and presidential campaigns.
The Central Ward TNA candidate Julius Mwaniki said the party’s candidates expected a dialogue that would “consolidate their support against their opponents”.
“Unfortunately, we are not seeing collective support for all TNA candidates. Nairobi needs serious work,” said Mr Mwaniki, a former PNU Nominated Councillor.
The Embakasi North TNA candidate Mwangi Gakuya doubted if it is Mr Kenyatta who had called for the meeting. “We are not sure our presidential candidate called us here because we did not expect him to miss such a meeting. It was a priority meeting,” said Mr Gakuya.
According to the organisers, the meeting was called to iron out the differences that emerged in the primaries ahead of a mammoth road show in the city on Tuesday.
None of the party officials who had called the meeting was available to respond to the candidates' queries. Most whiled away their time at the hotel hoping Mr Kenyatta would finally show up. He did not. They turned down an offer by Mr Waititu to refund them their transport.
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