POLITICS:
BY LINET MINAYO – THE KNU
As the election date moves closer, gubernatorial candidates are traversing the vast region of Kajiado by air, and bad terrains in search of votes.
While governor Joseph Lenku (ODM) is exuding confidence in winning the coming election against the rest of the candidates, the ground appears to be changing.
Kajiado North, the region’s vote basket, which supported Lenku’s election in 2017 has now been invaded by MP Katoo Metito (UDA) and former governor David Nkedianye (Jubilee).
During the last general election, governor Lenku was in Jubilee. He got a lot of backing from President Uhuru Kenyatta after the party dealt a significant blow to the then governor Nkedianye.
Jubilee had vowed to deal with ‘madoadoa’ (blemishes or spots) in areas believed to be the ruling party’s zones. At the time Nkedianye was in ODM.
While Nkedianye has since moved to Jubilee and Lenku has gone to ODM, the two have one presidential candidate in the Azimiola Umoja – One Kenya Alliance.
On the other hand, the two are chasing governorship in the county. To avoid colliding in rallies, the Azimio leadership asked the to campaign separately.
Metito of UDA has made inroads in the areas of Loitokitok in the Kajiado South subcounty and Kajiado North, where Lenku harvested many votes in the last general election.
After former governor, Nkedianye and MP Metito picked running mates from the vote-rich north, governor Lenku’s political equation that he used in the 2017 election was dealt a blow.
Nkedianye picked Kajiado North MP as his running mate, while Metito picked Judy Pere from Ongata Rongai.
When the two running mates from the north were picked, Lenku attacked Nkedianye and Metito and accused them of selling the rights of the Maasai.
“The two are now carrying snakes in their pockets. They want to forcefully eject me from the seat by choosing to work with Kikuyus instead of working with us,” said Lenku in Kimana.
Both Lenku and Metito come from Loitokitok in the Kajiado South subcounty. This means the votes for the governor from the Ilkisonko community will be split as other Maasai communities from the Kaputiei and others may settle for Nkedianye.
Former governor Nkedianye believes that this time around, he is standing in the position that Lenku stood in 2017 and that the governor has no choice but to concede defeat on August 9.
“The system favoured him then, and I am now here standing on the ground he was in the last election. Even if they bring that zoning they are talking about, I am ready for it,” said Nkedianye on Tuesday in Kitengela.
On Monday, while campaigning in Loitokitok, Metito said he is not depending on human favours to win the next election.
“They claim they have the backing of the state, the system, and whatever, but we stand by the living God and the people of Kenya to win this coming election,” said Metito.
Lenku was in Kimana on Monday and promised to do even better when he is reelected.
When Nkedianye was in Matapato North Ward in Kajiado Central on Monday while in MP Elijah Memusi (ODM) company, he asked Lenku to account for livestock losses to the current drought that has devastated the county.
“The governor has kept quiet about the ongoing drought situation as if all is well. People need food in Kajiado central and west subcounties. Our children are starving as their livestock drop dead each day,” claimed Nkedianye.
He asked Lenku to work with the national government to save the situation caused by the drought before they start counting dead people succumbing to starvation.
Nkedianye later went to Mashuuru town where the local people claimed services from the local hospital stopped 3 years ago.
While addressing a group of women in Loitokitok on Saturday, Edna Lenku, the wife of governor Lenku claimed that hospitals in Kajiado stopped operations because the residents of the county are not subscribing to National Hospital Insurance Fund cards.
“The money you pay to NHIF is brought back by the national government to buy you drugs in hospitals,” said Ednah.
Ednah was made a laughing stock on social media as many people claimed she had no clue of how the government is run.
However, Lenku has constantly claimed that the number of patients from Makueni, Machakos, and even Nairobi are jamming county hospitals because he has significantly improved services in the health sector.
Nkedianye and Metito told Lenku to stop lying to the people of Kajiado, adding that nothing is going on in the region’s hospitals.
“Hospital services stalled three years ago, there is no water in our towns, security lights in our major towns were switched off because of non-payment of bills years back,” claimed Nkedianye.
Lenku says some of the services stalled because the national treasury has been holding devolved financial resources for many months.
Nkedianye is now blaming Katoo for mentoring Lenku into Kajiado politics, adding that the governor allegedly messed up the national security sector when he was CS and later became governor where he has also brought down all the government services.
Lenku was fired by President Uhuru soon after he was made Interior CS after the Alshabaab attacked Westgate Mall in Nairobi West.
