MACHAKOS, Kenya, Feb 7 — Mavoko Member of Parliament Patrick Makau has criticized State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita who has expressed interest in the Machakos Gubernatorial race for lack of proficiency in the kamba language.
MP Makau who has also expressed interest in succeeding Governor Alfred Mutua questioned how Waita would become the Governor of Machakos without having knowledge of the region’s language.
“He doesn’t even know 5 per cent of the language, how can he become the Governor of Machakos without knowing how to speak the Kamba language?” posed Makau.
Waita is set to resign so as to focus on campaigns, ahead of February 9 deadline set by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and reinforced by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.
He however stated that he will not cave in to pressure and suspend his political desire to vie for the Machakos gubernatorial seat, even as he accused some “powerful” Kamba leaders of pushing him to drop his political ambitions in their favor and that of their allies.
“I am receiving a lot of pressure from many people. They want me not to go ahead with my desire to vie. There’s a lot of pressure from big politicians in our community who want me to drop out of the race in their favor,” said Nzioka.
The Machakos gubernatorial seat has attracted several leaders among them Former Senator Johnson Muthama, Transport CAS Wavinya Ndeti who quit on February 4, and Machakos County Speaker Florence Muoti Mwangangi.
