Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris has expressed her interest in becoming the next Nairobi deputy governor.
Ms. Passaris said that she is ready to relinquish her position as Woman Rep to fill the position that is vacant in the spirit of the March 9 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Ms. Passaris, however, gave a condition for taking over as the third deputy governor of Nairobi, saying that she has to be given a clear mandate on what her role will be and given at least three departments to run in order to help in service delivery.
On Wednesday, May 30, 2018, Governor Sonko told President Kenyatta at Jacaranda Grounds in Nairobi not to be overly concerned by the deputy governor nomination fiasco that saw him nominate opposition activist Miguna Miguna to be his deputy, a decision that has not gone down well with the Jubilee Party leadership.
Governor Sonko was categorical in April during an interview with a local radio station that Mr. Igathe’s replacement would be a woman, most possibly from the Kikuyu community and from the corporate world.
Ms. Passaris is the daughter of a Kenyan mother and a Greek father and her middle name is Muthoni and she is not a technocrat but a businesswoman who in 2016 was named as the most influential woman both in politics and business by CEO Global from South Africa.
Ms. Passaris has to win over the Jubilee MCAs at the assembly who maintain that the governor must nominate only an individual from their party as Political Parties Act does not allow anyone who is not a member of the same party as the governor to be nominated.