Peter Kenneth or Kenneth Marende for Nairobi Governor

ODM strategists are toying with the idea of convincing either former Speaker Kenneth Marende or politician Peter Kenneth to run for Nairobi governor, should the Supreme Court uphold the decision of a lower court that threw out Evans Kidero. Influential people within the Orange party are, however, divided over the right choice between the two. It also emerged that top TNA bigwigs prefer Peter Kenneth and a top leader has already called him, persuading the former Gatanga MP to vie. On May 13, the Court of Appeal reversed a High Court ruling upholding Kidero as the governor of Nairobi. Former assistant minister Ferdinand Waititu who contested the election of Kidero had challenged his victory. In their ruling throwing out Kidero, appellate judges argued that Waititu was not given a fair chance to challenge his defeat. But on May 14, the Supreme Court returned Kidero as Nairobi governor until a case he has lodged against his sacking by the appellate court is heard. When The Nairobian called ODM on their possible choice for candidate, party stalwart John Mbadi scoffed at the idea of either fronting Marende or Kenneth saying the party would be making a grave mistake.
“That is total rubbish and pure gossip. I don’t think any right thinking member will go for another person other than Kidero. He mounted a serious campaign, why would we look for another candidate?” wondered Mbadi. The Suba MP blamed some of his first-time colleagues in Parliament claiming they were the source of constant disharmony in ODM, a party on whose ticket Kidero contested, winning the seat.
His nemeses now accuse him of being disloyal to the party that swept him to power. “Those are people with personal issues. There must be discipline in the party and the line of communication must be very clear. This miscommunication where every Tom, Dick and Harry purports to speak for ODM is not good,” added Mbadi, while defending Kidero’s poor development track record. Some Nairobians interviewed said they will not support the re-election of Kidero — who in April 2013 described himself as the ‘new sheriff in town’ after he won the polls — because he has done little to change the image of Nairobi. They cited poor road network, insecurity, unemployment and lack of a clear development plan as some of the reasons that would make them not vote for Kidero should a by-election be called.