This is why Jubilee Retracted on the Choice of Kamanda

Youthful aspirants Boniface Mwangi, Steve Mbogo and Charles Njagua Kanyi who will face off for the Starehe parliamentary seat in August.

The titanic battle over the Jubilee Party Starehe parliamentary nominations ended yesterday with the party’s appeals tribunal declaring popular musician Charles Njagua Kanyi, aka ‘Jaguar’ as the winner, overturning earlier results that had handed current MP Maina Kamanda the win.

Faced by a combative group of young constituents, JP leadership took the heat from youngsters voicing their frustrations with what they perceived as injustice to the young Jaguar.

Why then did Jubilee strip Kamanda of the ticket? There were two main reasons for this move;-

1. The Fear of voter backlash.

Fearing a voter backlash in the city, Jubilee swallowed their pride after sensing the emotional intensity of the issue.... It was not containable.

Kamanda’s choice was a major miscalculation. Nairobians would have unleash some political hurricane on him and Jubilee Party to an extent of even eating up on President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election bid. Jubilee had sheepishly opted for an unpopular position that could have dogged them through the August 8 elections. They too were in serious danger of even losing their safe seats within the city and get massacred by the opposition.

“You expect people to be a bit brasher when they go to the ballot box especially if they believe that their choice of leader has been robbed of his victory. Unlike in Kiambu where jubilee can do this and get away with it, Nairobi is multi-ethnic and none of the two main political outfits can claim control of the populace. The wrath meted on Jubilee Party on August 8 would not have only affected Jaguar’s Starehe parliamentary seat, but would have been replicated in all other areas of the city,” said Obadiah Kamau, a resident of Thika.

2. Youthful coup in the city.

Going by the recent party nominations, Nairobi’s political landscape is taking a new shape with young leaders taking over in both the ODM and Jubilee Party nominations. There is no doubt that the millennial generation (born between 1980 and 2000), currently forming the core of the Kenyan electorate have taken over.

Due to their diverse thinking and their liberal decision making, they have shattered the political careers of well-known political bigwigs in an instant.

Other than Jaguar being a personal friend of the president, the choice of Maina Kamanda for the Starehe seat would have presented Jubilee Party with some false-start ahead of the general elections, considering that he would have faced off with activist Boniface Mwangi vying on a Ukweli Party ticket and flamboyant businessman Steve Mbogo of ODM, both youthful politicians.

Jubilee were therefore forced to convince Kamanda to opt out of the race in order to avoid some humiliating defeat courtesy of the young voters.