Hardly a year into Governor Johnson Sakaja’s term, the race to 2027 has officially kicked off on a high, with Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi declaring his bid for governor.
During the 2022 general elections, Wanyonyi stepped down for the Jubilee candidate Polycarp Igathe, who lost to Kenya Kwanza’s Sakaja.
However, a new player may soon join the race for governor. Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
The vocal, and sometimes foul ex-UoN student leader has won the souls of many Nairobians for his firm grip on the ODM Party, as well as his relatively high achievements as one of Kenya’s top-performing Members of Parliament.
Babu Owino has long been the face of ODM’s youth wing, characterized by his ‘Tibim, Tialala’ chant.
Over the weekend, Babu Owino dragged Sakaja into a hot Twitter debate over the state of Nairobi County.
Babu Owino pointed out that Sakaja ranks nowhere in recent opinion polls on county performance, accusing him of corruption and non-performance.
Sakaja, who did not hesitate to fire back ridiculed the MP for not distinguishing his roles and that of a governor, constantly asking him to sober up from his drunken stupor.
The duo, who have been friends in the past have been seen as front runners for the job, with Babu Owino eyeing to cut short Sakaja’s two-term dream.
Nairobi County has never had a two-term Governor. The first governor Dr. Evans Kidero was ousted by Mike Sonko, who in turn was impeached after serving for just 3 years.
Nairobi proceeded into a semi-military rule with a KDF General calling the shots under instructions from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Governor Sakaja ran on a smear campaign against NMS for what he termed as militarization of the city, for the benefit of a few.
Powers-that-be set up top CEO Polycarp Igathe to challenge Sakaja’s bid for City Hall. However, despite spending millions in clubs, matatu stages and markets to mingle and woo ‘mtu wa chini’, Igathe failed to defeat the Sakaja charm.
Sakaja has several programmes to his name, top among them being the school feeding programme, green army jobs and ongoing establishments of boroughs.
