According to a recent Radio Africa opinion survey, United Democratic Alliance candidate John Njuguna Wanjiku is the obvious leader in the run-up to the Kiambaa by-election on July 15.
However, because Jubilee is intending to invest resources into Kiambaa over the next week, the situation might still move in the by-election. The party is aggressively mobilizing and intends to bring its heavyweights to the district before the election.
A majority of Kiambaa voters claimed they would vote for Wanjiku, with only 25% saying they would vote for Jubilee candidate Njama Wainaina Karanja Kariri. Around 18% stated they were undecided, while 3% said they would not.
Both Jubilee and UDA, which are affiliated with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, have poured significant resources into the Kiambaa campaign.
After losing the Juja seat in May, Jubilee considers this a must-win election, while a win for UDA would put Ruto in the lead for the presidential election in August 2022.
Kanu supremo Gideon Moi decided not to field a candidate in Kiambaa because he didn’t want to jeopardize Jubilee’s chances.
The split of support for Wanjiku and Karanja was fairly consistent across different age groups and male and female.
The Jubilee candidate got his strongest support in Ndenduru ward (29 per cent) while the UDA candidate did best in Kihara (59 per cent).
However, Jubilee as a party is still relatively stronger than the candidate as 28 per cent said they support Jubilee compared to 39 per cent supporting UDA while 31 per cent said they support no party.
The Building Bridges Initiative also appeared to be hampering the Jubilee candidate as 43 per cent said they oppose BBI while 22 per cent supported it and 11 per cent did not care either way. Another 24 per cent said they did not know much about it.
Jubilee Is Doing An Excellent Job
The failure of Jubilee in Kiambaa does not appear to be tied to the government’s economic success, as 30% of respondents believed the administration did an excellent job and 38% said it did an average one. Only 29% of people thought the Jubilee government did a poor or extremely poor job.
Unemployment (61%) and excessive living costs (59%) were the top concerns of respondents, who also expressed dissatisfaction with inadequate roads (33%), and poor health care (33%). (24 per cent).
According to the study, the incoming MP’s top goals should be to address unemployment (26%) followed by insecurity (11%), and inadequate roads (9%).
Because 57% of respondents stated they would definitely vote and 32% said they would probably vote, the Kiambaa by-election could have a high turnout.
