Musician-turned-politician Kevin Kioko alias Bahati has for the first time opened up about his unsuccessful bid for the Mathare parliamentary seat in the August 2022 General Election.
According to the results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Bahati emerged last in the Mathare parliamentary race.
The Machozi hitmaker came a distant third after scooping a paltry 8,166 votes on a Jubilee Party ticket behind ODM’s Anthony Oluoch (28,098) and Billian Ojiwa (16,912) of UDA.
In an interview on Chipukeezy’s show on Monday, September 25, Bahati regretted dumping William Ruto for Raila Odinga.
Kioko said he would be an MP right now if he had stayed with President William Ruto.
The popular musician further disclosed that he financed his campaign independently despite contesting on a Jubilee party ticket.
“I was like an independent candidate. I campaigned with my own money. Roughly… I spent roughly Sh27 million,” he said.
The singer, who has since expressed his ambition to run for the presidency in the 2037 elections, stated that Raila had no faith in him.
“I knew he was going to endorse me for the seat on that day. Then, reaching there, Baba (Raila) took the microphone and told me to drop my bid, then would give me a job. I wondered how Raila would give me a job, yet he was also jobless,” Bahati said.
Adding: “William Ruto believed in me. He was the first one to know I had an interest in running for the seat, but I don’t know why I didn’t run through his party. The devil is a liar,
“I remember when I told President Ruto I wanted to run for the Mathare MP seat; he gave me the first food that I donated in Mathare. He supported me. If I had not run away from Ruto’s UDA, I would be a Member of Parliament today. It was the biggest mistake.”
