The Nairobi Business Community (NBC) on Wednesday, February 9, made a public return to politics with demands to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader, Raila Odinga ahead of the August 9 polls.
Speaking in Nairobi, the NBC Chair, Wilfred Kamau asked Odinga to call his house to order, accusing some members of ODM of trying to micro-manage politics of the city.
While affirming their support for the Azimio la Umoja movement, they claimed that a section of ODM leaders were undermining some of their Jubilee colleagues who declared interest in various seats in the capital.
They declared that the ruling party had equal rights to Azimio and would not allow anyone to downplay their power. The NBC chair noted with concern that there were plans to sideline Jubilee when selecting candidates for the Nairobi gubernatorial, senatorial and Woman Representative seats.
"There is a group that is behaving as if they own Azimio themselves. It is a coalition between ODM and Jubilee but the former is trying to behave like a big brother. Decision making should not only be done by ODM, we need a level playing field," Kamau noted.
NBC demanded that all aspirants from Jubilee and ODM be subjected to a transparent nomination process. In addition, they are for the idea that the position of governor should be preferred to those with unquestionable records.
"In the next phase, we must have a governor, who is not a politician but a leader. We want a manager who will provide solutions and manage businesses in Nairobi," NBC Youth Leader, Douglas Ndonga noted.
The race for the Nairobi City County top seats has attracted several aspirants from President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partners' teams, and potentially threatened to cause in-house wrangles.
Some of the candidates include Westlands member of Parliament (MP) Tim Wanyonyi, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Richard Ngatia and business woman Agnes Kagure who will face off with Nairobi Senator, Johnson Sakaja and televangelist Bishop Margret Wanjiru from the Kenya Kwanza.
On January 31, the former premier publicly endorsed Wanyonyi for the county's top seat, referring to him as the incoming Nairobi governor. This seemed to downplay earlier claims by Nairobi Woman Rep, Esther Passaris that there were claims to block the MP from contesting.
"From all the Members of Parliament in Nairobi, I have seen the work of Tim Wanyonyi. He works very hard. Now he wants to go higher and serve Nairobi County. However, some people are saying that the seat must be for a Kikuyu," she noted.
