NAIROBI, Kenya, May 2 – Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday led other Party of National Unity (PNU) leaders in drumming up support for Yusuf Hassan Abdi who is gunning for the Kamukunji Parliamentary seat.
Mr Kenyatta, who is Kenya\’s Finance Minister, urged Kamukunji residents to vote in Mr Abdi "as he is competent and willing to address the plight of the residents."
"I believe that the leader that you are about to elect is someone who will ensure that all your problems are solved. We pledge to support him so that he can deliver on his promises," the minister said.
Speaking in Eastleigh before embarking on a road show in the constituency, Mr Kenyatta also called on Kenyans to elect leaders who are ready to unite and serve them.
This, he emphasised, was the only way to eliminate poverty and unemployment and also spur economic development in the country.
"We want servant leadership and that leadership comes from the people. We don\’t want a leader who tells people what to do, but one who asks the populace what they want so that he can assist them," the Gatundu South legislator stated.
He was accompanied by the Minister for Public Health and Sanitation Beth Mugo who called on women and youths to come out in large numbers and vote for Mr Abdi in the May 23 by-election.
"I want to urge all women and youths to come out and cast your votes for Mr Abdi and ensure that he wins. If you don\’t, you will only have yourselves to blame," she cautioned.
On his part the, party nominee pledged to deliver on all the promises and address problems such as land grabbing and poverty that have afflicted the constituency for a long time.
"I am a man of my words and I promise that I will work together with the other leaders to rebuild Kamukunji. I want to put land grabbers on notice and tell them that I will deal with them once I become the area MP," he vowed.
Mr Abdi was endorsed as a candidate after ODM-Kenya and PNU officials reached a compromise to field a single candidate.
He will battle it out with ODM candidate Ibrahim Ahmed alias \’Johnny\’ for the position that fell vacant after the High Court nullified the election of Simon Mbugua as the area MP due to election irregularities.
Mr Mbugua was banking on clinching a direct nomination from his former party but it was not forthcoming.
Attempts to vie on another party\’s ticket to enable him defend his seat also failed.
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