[President Uhuru Kenyatta with Maasai leaders. Kenyatta’s Jubilee continues to lose ground to Nasa in the region.] (Thestar)
Jubilee Party has suffered a major setback in the run-up to the general elections, after some key leaders form Narok and Kajiado counties decamped to the National Super Alliance.
This comes even as Jubilee, which enjoyed a 50 per cent of the votes in 2013, continues to lose ground to Nasa in the two counties.
ODM in particular enjoyed overwhelming support from the Maa community in 2007, but the decamping of some of the top leaders continues to undermine the progress made so far.
The latest high-profile shift has been that of Mr Tarayia ole Kores, considered a close friend of Mr Kenyatta’s.
The immediate former chairman of the Kenya Meat Commission board and former chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Kenya has been a frontrunner for the Kajiado governor’s seat on a Jubilee ticket, but he claims manipulation of the party primaries left him with no option but to decamp to the Opposition.
Koros claims he was rigged out of the seat, with Joseph Ole Lenku set to battle Incumbent David Nkedianye of Nasa after winning the Jubilee ticket.
“I am not surprised by the handling of Jubilee primaries to make way for certain individuals. Close friends high up the Jubilee Party hierarchy had warned me powerful forces had sworn they would ensure I don't get the ticket,” said Kores.
“I shared my reservations with the President and I only participated in the Jubilee primaries because the President himself had given me his word that he would ensure integrity of the process,” he added.
Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery has in the recent past been supporting Kores, and his move is set to leave Nkaissery in an awkward position.