NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 23 – A Jubilee Party meeting attended by Senator Mike Sonko and Starehe Member of Parliament Maina Kamanda turned chaotic after their supporters clashed over the election of the party’s County Elections Board.
Sonko’s supporters stormed out of the meeting held at the Bomas of Kenya on Thursday shortly after aspirants for various elective seats in Nairobi started submitting proposals of those they wished to oversee party primaries accusing Kamanda of attempting to rig the election in favor of former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth.
Shortly afterwards, Sonko arrived in the arena accompanied by his supporters where a battle ensued between the two camps who threw chairs at each other leaving Michael Waweru ¬- a member of JP’s National Elections Board overseeing the process – with no option but to adjourn the meeting.
“You go and agree on 17 names and bring them to me,” Waweru said as the two rival groups charged at him.
“You will not oversee this process. We cannot accept. This is an aspirant driven process,” a supporter interrupted Waweru.
An invite sent to the newsrooms earlier on Thursday indicated that Senator Sonko, Margret Wanjiru and Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru who are the only remnants vying for governorship in what has come to be known as Team Nairobi were going to make a major announcement at the meeting.
Only Sonko and Wanjiru however showed up at the Bomas of Kenya with Dennis Waweru and Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja who last week shelved his ambitions to contest in the JP’s gubernatorial primaries conspicuously missing.
Speculation on the collapse of Team Nairobi have been rife since Sakaja declared that he will run instead for the Nairobi Senate seat.
The alliance has also not been able to arrive at a consensus on who among them will face Peter Kenneth during the nominations.
Recently during an interview at a local television station Sonko vowed not to work with the former presidential aspirant accusing him of betraying President Uhuru Kenyatta during the 2013 General Elections.