Waiguru routs Governor Ndathi in Kirinyaga Jubilee primary

Waiguru was hounded out of office after it emerged millions were stolen from the Devolution and Planning Ministry under her watch/CFM

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – Former Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru is one step closer to becoming the next Kirinyaga Governor after trouncing the incumbent Joseph Ndathi in the Jubilee Party primaries.

With the results of only two polling stations pending, Waiguru had a commanding lead of over 80,000 votes with 102,927 votes against Ndathi’s 19,078.

Once she claims the ticket, Waiguru will face off with another former female minister, NARC-Kenya’s Martha Karua, in the August General Election and has once again been tipped to win.

Should either Waiguru or Karua emerge triumphant in the August General Election, they would make history by becoming the first female governor if not among the first.

Waiguru resigned from the office of Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning in disgrace in November of 2015 after being hounded over the loss of hundreds of millions of shillings.

At the time Waiguru was categorical that she was forced to resign not out of a sense of responsibility for the lost funds but as a result of the political pressure she felt once it became public knowledge.

“The fight against corruption eventually mutated into the fight against Anne Waiguru,” she said at the time.

She thereafter remade herself into a politician, first fuelling speculation that she would seek elective office in Nairobi before declaring her intent to become the next Kirinyaga Governor.

Back to the present day, her challenger – for the Jubilee Party ticket – Governor Joseph Ndathi has disputed the vote outcome agitating for a repeat of the exercise after alleging foul play.

“Some people were using Jik to rub off the mark that shows they had already voted.”

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

See author's posts