Youth leader Antony Kibagendi at Jubilee headquarters when announcing his defection from ODM. [Photo/ Capital News]
The defection of Antony Kibagendi from ODM to Jubilee has shaken the political landscape in Kisii and Nyamira counties, areas previously thought to be Raila Odinga’s strongholds.Mr Kibagendi, who was a key ODM youth leader in Gusiiland, is a parliamentary aspirant for Kitutu Chache South who has moved to the Jubilee Party with a large number of young NASA supporters. Just like other politicians who have decamped from ODM to Jubilee in the past, Kibagendi said he was rigged out in the primaries and was frustrated with the manner in which the interests of the youth were being suppressed in the party. “I have been in ODM representing the interests of young people but over time we have realized that there’s no space for the people of our generation and for that reason we thought it is important to be on the right side of history,” Kibagendi, when he was welcomed to Jubilee by Secretary General Raphael Tuju and National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale. “This was informed by how the party primaries were conducted. All young people were systematically locked out in ODM and most of the National Super Alliance affiliate parties,” he added, as quoted by Capital News. Mr Kibagendi was not an ordinary ODM aspirant — he had a huge influence over the young people who support NASA in Kisii and Nyamira. That is why the coalition trusted him to defend the NASA agenda on radio shows. Raila is now worried that President Uhuru Kenyatta will take a large slice of his support in Gusiiland, a region he desperately needs to stand any chance of winning the presidency in the August 8 general election. The youth leader has vowed to help Jubilee win majority of the parliamentary seats in Kisii. “Be sure we will get a minimum of seven parliamentary seats and get the gubernatorial seats for Kisii and Nyamira,” he said.