Jubilee party candidate for Mathare parliamentary seat, Kevin Kioko, popularly known as Bahati - on Wednesday, June 29, revealed that he met with Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka to strategise his win amid troubles in his party.
Speaking during an interview with Radio Citizen, Bahati claimed that Kalonzo had convened a meeting with Kamba aspirants in the constituency at his Karen home to agree on how the community would clinch the seat.
He pointed out that the leaders noted that the Wiper leader's community had numbers in Mathare and thus they needed to rally behind the strongest candidate.
"Kalonzo is our leader and the Kamba vote in Mathare is very important. We met a week ago in Karen and looked at how we can support one candidate from Ukambani, where I was selected," he stated
Bahati intimated that the Azimio Chief Cabinet Secretary-designate promised him that Wiper's candidate in the area Ben Milali would withdraw and support his bid.
The musician revealed that he had been approached to run for the Mbooni parliamentary seat but declined, stating that he had a keen interest in serving the people of Mathare.
"I feel more at home in Mathare, the people here understand me just as I do them. I want to serve them and that is the reason I have refused to drop my parliamentary ambitions," he explained.
Speaking on the ongoing political tension between him and Jubilee, which asked him to shelve his bid in favour of ODM's Anthony Oluoch, he maintained he would soldier on to the ballot.
He further made sensational allegations that some of his competitors attempted to bribe him out of the seat, offering him incentives including cash and lucrative jobs in the government.
"Many people have called me, offering me as much as Ksh50 million so that I can step down. Nonetheless, I tuned them down, because these people who will steal from the residents once they get elected," he pointed out.
Kioko noted that owing to his firm stand, his rivals resorted to approaching him through emissaries - naming ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and Rachel Shebesh - to try and convince him otherwise.
Bahati has become the first victim of the Azimio zoning, with Mathare being ear-marked for ODM. The agreement proposed that the Orange Pary and Jubilee each get 8 constituencies while Wiper got one.
Azimio defended the move, stating that it would see them field the strongest candidates to ensure maximum numbers in parliament. The youthful musician, however, insists that he has been leading in popularity polls.
