Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko at a past event. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko has praised Starehe constituency voters for voting out veteran politician Maina Kamanda during the recently concluded Jubilee Party primaries.Sonko said Kamanda’s main challenger, musician Charles Kanyi (Jaguar) genuinely won the poll.There has been a contest between Kamanda and Jaguar over who won the Jubilee Party ticket in Starehe constituency.Kamanda had earlier been declared winner of the exercise but Jaguar rejected the outcome demanding to be issued with a nomination certificate. He argued he had been rigged out.Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju ordered for a repeat of the poll after Jaguar’s supporters stormed Jubilee Party headquarters but the youthful musician refused to go for another contest with Kamanda.“We don’t want negotiations,” Jaguar said then.“I will not sit down with anyone and will not go back to the elections again. I am not ready to talk to him (Kamanda). Democracy is not about negotiation,” he added.Kamanda had earlier said he was ready to dialogue with the musician.“It is not about me, it is about Starehe people,” Jaguar said.“If Kamanda thinks I want to be nominated, he is mistaken. It has been a very difficult time for me.”After Jubilee Party’s elections disputes body special sitting on Wednesday, the party concluded Jaguar squarely won the poll and was issued with a nomination certificate.“Let me take this opportunity to congratulate my friend Jaguar for clinching the Jubilee’s Starehe parliamentary certificate,” Sonko said on Thursday during an interview at a local radio station.“It wasn’t an easy job, some of us were called names by tribal cartels but all the same we believe that Kenyans are one. Thank you the great people of Nairobi for standing with us.”