All eyes now on Nairobi after Nyeri gets deputy governor
Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko during swearing in of County Executive Committee members at Charter Hall on November 10, 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
There are hints Mr Sonko is likely to pick a woman as his deputy, most likely a technocrat with roots in Central region.
- Notable among the names which have been hitting the headlines as possible contenders are Margaret Wanjiru, Agnes Kagure, Ann Nyokabi, and Karen Nyamu.
Margaret Wanjiru contends that she had a memorandum of understanding with Governor Sonko that she would be considered for the position before Mr Igathe was picked.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is under renewed pressure to name his deputy after his Nyeri counterpart picked Ms Caroline Wanjiru Karugu on Thursday.
In recent weeks, Sonko has given hints that he had a list from which to pick a replacement for Mr Polycarp Igathe – who controversially resigned in January – indicating that the preferred candidate should be a woman and a technocrat with roots in Central Kenya.
POPULATION
“I know that the deputy governor post should go to a Kikuyu because they have a large population that supported me but let me appoint a Kikuyu I want, a technocrat, a professional and an elite. I already have names and I will give it to a woman but I need to consult first,” said Sonko this week during a radio interview, indicating he will discuss the decision with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto.
Notable among the names which have been hitting the headlines as possible contenders for the deputy governor’s seat are former Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiru, controversial businesswoman Agnes Kagure, former Kiambu Woman Rep Ann Nyokabi, and Ms Karen Nyamu. Also mentioned were East African Legislative Assembly MP Simon Mbugua, former Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru and former Nairobi Town Clerk John Gakuo —who now appears ruled out on gender consideration.
INSURANCE
But Sonko’s recent proclamation has stirred speculation that Ms Kagure and Ms Nyokabi stand a higher chance of being picked.
Ms Kagure is a businesswoman and an insurance executive while Ms Nyokabi, who is President Kenyatta’s cousin, has qualifications in political science and finance.
Bishop Wanjiru contends that she had a memorandum of understanding with Governor Sonko that she would be considered for the position before Mr Igathe was picked, ostensibly at the urging of State House.
INTIMIDATING
To buttress the intense lobbying involved in the process by powerful individuals, business community, power brokers and political operatives close to the presidency, Governor Sonko has also accused some principal secretaries of trying to arm-twist him into considering their “people”.
He said the civil servants were the same people who did not want him to be Nairobi governor. Sonko claimed that Interior PS Karanja Kibicho is among the people who are now threatening and intimidating him on whom to name as deputy governor.
“I already have names and I will give it to a woman but not what Karanja Kibicho wants me to do. Let him do the work the President gave him,” Sonko said in the interview this week.
