The Kibra race was more about Deputy President William Ruto and less about the Jubilee Party candidate McDonald Mariga, political commentator Dismas Mokua has said.
In the campaigns, in the run up to the Thursday exercise, the DP expressed confidence of a win, in a contest that was touted a face-off between him and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
However, after the loss, the DP has since turned to Twitter to condemn ODM for allegedly using to violence, which Mokua says is as a result of his anger for losing the race.
He told the Standard that the DP was using the by-election in an attempt to invade the city politics, and also spent a lot of resources and time, which makes his anger justifiable.
According to Mokua, this was a proxy war for the control of the city before the 2022 polls, and the DP spent a lot of resources in Mariga's campaigns, hence the reaction from the DP.
"This was a proxy war, focusing on 2022 General Election and the Handshake. He put a lot of resources and time, receiving large delegations at his Karen official residences and held two rallies in Kibra. This was indeed a genuine phobia to galvanize the city politics,” he explained.
About the DP's tweets lately, where he has even been bashing local dailies for allegedly spewing untrue reports against him and the Jubilee Party, he said that Ruto had embraced a new habit.
According to Mokua, also a communication expert, Ruto has decided to counter what he considers false there and then, instead of waiting for a whole week to address it in a rally.
"He is clutching at straws. When he is not happy with what the media reports, he dismisses it as fake news or alternative facts. He has used the Tweets for a while now, to expose or dismiss his critique,” he added.
Ruto's latest bashing on the papers came on Saturday, where he dismissed a story by the Star, which claimed that Raila planted moles in his Kibra campaign team, before beating him.