Jubilee politicians allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta have reacted to the Jubilee loss in the highly competitive Kiambaa constituency by-election held on July 15.
In the mini-polls, United Democratic Alliance candidate John Njuguna garnered 21,773 votes, while Jubilee’s Kariri Njama had 21,263.
Despite earlier claims by Kariri Njama that the election had been rigged, the majority of senior Jubilee politicians oliticians allied to President Uhuru have now come to terms with the narrow loss.
Taking to his Facebook page, the party’s deputy Secretary-general Joshua Kutuny, who was in the frontline of campaigns conceded the Jubilee loss in a rather funny way.
The youthful politician sarcastically used the sheng phrase ‘mumetufinya’ to congratulate the newly elected MP.
“Nisawa, mumetufinya but it was not easy. We will live to fight another day, all the best to the people of Kiambaa under the just-announced winner. Good day,” Charangany MP Joshua Kutuny wrote.
According to Nyeri Town MP Ngujiri Wambugu, the Jubilee party joined the campaign trail late, and their results were fairly good.
“Three weeks of Jubilee politicians campaign chipped away 50% of a 4-year hustler narrative in Kiambaa and Muguga. We now know what to do (towards 2022 elections),” he said.
Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru reacted to the poll results by warning DP Ruto against thumping his chest.
Waiguru reminded Ruto that the support base depicted in the Kiambaa by-election is not enough to win him the presidency.
“That should worry William Ruto who needs 101 per cent of Mt Kenya support if his candidacy is to convert to the State House,
“But it is still a year before the 2022 elections which in politics is a lifetime,” Waiguru wrote on her social media page.
Other vocal members and party officials have gone mute on the Jubilee loss even after threatening to give UDA a run for their money.
It is interesting to note that Jubilee’s candidate Kariri Njama was until a few months to the by-election a William Ruto man before decamping in the hope of increasing his chances of winning as Kiambaa was considered a Jubilee party stronghold.
As late as April 2021, Kariri Njama took William Ruto to Kiambaa before shifting to the Jubilee party and Ruto’s team went for little known John Njuguna as the fallback plan which worked so well.
Observes believe perhaps things would have been different had Kariri Njama maintained his allegiance to Wiliam Ruto and vied on a UDA ticket and not Jubilee party.
