Kidero endorses Kariuki for Mathare by-election
Governor Evans Kidero has endorsed Steven Kariuki as Cord’s candidate for the Mathare by-election.
The governor met Mr Kariuki at City Hall on Monday moments before announcing his endorsement on his twitter handle.
“CORD has only one candidate in the Mathare by-election. Steven Kariuki has my support & that of ODM,” Governor Kidero tweeted.
He joins Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba who has also called on ODM and the Cord coalition to give Stephen Kariuki a direct nomination for the Mathare seat.
Mr Namwamba had last week urged Ford-Kenya, Wiper and other CORD affiliate parties not to field candidates to ensure the coalition gets the seat.
But a new entrant in the race for ODM’s ticket Tom Oluoch denounced the proposal of giving Steven Kariuki a direct ticket.
He wants the party to conduct nominations for the party’s candidate.
The party’s Deputy Director of Communication Maseme Machuka sought to clarify that no candidate had been given a direct nominations yet.
“As far as ODM is concerned, the Mathare seat has not yet been declared vacant and we are waiting for any developments before taking any action,” he told the Nairobi News via telephone
Mr Kariuki, son of former MP Bishop Margaret Kariuki, successfully petitioned the election of former Mathare MP George Wanjohi at the Court of Appeal last week.
The three-judge bench ruled on Tuesday that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) committed an electoral offence and sustained an illegality when it recalled and cancelled the victory certificate it had earlier issued to Mr Wanjohi’s opponent, Stephen Kariuki of ODM.