Politics
ODM’s Edwin Sifuna To Vie For Nairobi Senate Seat In 2022
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna will vie for the Nairobi Senate seat in 2022.
Sifuna announced his candidature on his social media pages on Thursday, adding that he will be voting at Loresho Primary School in Westlands, Nairobi.
“I will be vying for the Nairobi County Senatorial seat in 2022 on an ODM ticket,” he said.
I will henceforth vote at Loresho Primary School in Westlands Constituency.
I will be vying for the Nairobi County Senatorial seat in 2022 on @TheODMparty Ticket.#Inawezekana
— Edwin Sifuna (@edwinsifuna) December 16, 2021
Sifuna will be seeking to replace Johnson Sakaja, who has expressed interest in the Governor seat next year.
Sakaja will be contesting against Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, Westlands MP Timothy Wanyonyi and Kenya Chamber of Commerce chairperson Richard Ngatia who have shown interest in the governor seat.
It will be the third time the lawyer will be running for political office.
In 2017, Sifuna lost in the Kanduyi ODM seat during primaries to lawyer John Makali.
He would then throw his hat into the ring again for the Nairobi Senate seat in the same year but lost to Jubilee’s Johnson Sakaja.
At the time of publication, no other persons officially expressed interest in the Nairobi Senator seat.
Sifuna, known to shoot from the hip, whether in law or politics, is seen by some as a rising star and others as eating away at the sweat of political honchos in the Orange party.
In December 2020, he was forced to apologise to Malindi Member of Parliament Aisha Jumwa over controversial remarks he had made during by-election campaigns in Msambweni, Kwale County.
The ODM secretary-general was, consequently, summoned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) over the remarks, which he was accused of advocating for sexual violence.
But the lawyer has also appeared in the political scene in recent months, commenting on ODM’s stand on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and urging the electorate not to vote for a candidate based on their community.
Deputy President William Ruto has vowed to that his government if given the mandate to lead the country in the August 9 polls will deal with hands-on with ‘State capture.’
According to the Presidential candidate, state policies are being used to facilitate the theft of public funds as corruption had been absorbed into government.
DP William Ruto made these calims while speaking to the Reuters in an interview.
“We have no intention of prosecuting President Uhuru Kenyatta, but we have every intention of dealing with State capture. It cannot be business as usual,” the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate said.
DP Ruto’s running mate, Rigathi Gachagua also alluded to said State capture, saying those involved will be dealt with should Kenya Kwanza form the next government.
“We will not go after individuals. We will go after all those in state capture and conflict of interest,” Gachagua said in a joint media broadcast.
The Mathira MP vaguely explained that it was “people in power who have used or are using their offices to use up public resources to their advantage,” when asked who or what State capture was.
The DP has also revealed plans of bringing to end the Kenya’s national debt, which currently stands at Sh9 trillion, in an exclusive interview with international media.
He said the country has the capacity to handle the debt situation, and that they as Kenya Kwanza have mapped out plans of how to go about it, should they win.
“We will put the brakes on more borrowing. It may not come to zero but we will begin the journey to slow down on more borrowing,” the DP said.
Campaigns hit fever pitch and candidates scramble for airtime to sell their agendas with just eighteen (18) days left as Kenya will soon be headed to the General Election.
Sonko has increased the intense in the race for Mombasa county which already has aspirants from the UDA and ODM parties.
Sonko has finally been cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to contest for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat.
On Thursday, July 14 2022, Sonko in the accompany of his supporters was given the green light.
The former Nairobi governor was invited by the IEBC to submit his letter for clearance as per a letter addressed to him earlier.
“The venue will be the IEBC Mombasa County offices and you are expected to submit your papers on July 14, 2022 between 2pm and 4pm,” Swalha Ibrahim the returning officer said.
The letter to Sonko came after a high court ruled that the politician doesn’t be disqualified from vying for governor noting that the governor was eligible to run for office. The commission said it could not head to the courts to appeal the decision as time could not allow.
Addressing the media after the clearance, Sonko said his candidature seeks to solve the problems of the people in the Coastal city and that he was bringing a new awakening in the city.
Sonko said he was not worried about the short time time line he has to undertake the campaigns in the large city noting that he was drawing a campaign schedule to begin immediately.
“We must campaign, we have few days but we will utilize them properly. We can do two days per constituency or a day per constituency,” Sonko noted.
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