Jubilee Supporters in Nyandarua to hold demonstration if Kimemia is awarded direct ticket against Sicily Kariuki

Section of Nyandarua residents is expected to hold a mega demonstration if Jubilee prefers to issue the incumbent governor Francis Kimemia with a direct ticket against their preferred candidate Sicily Kariuki.

The elections are being interpreted as a supremacy battle between President Kenyatta and his estranged deputy.

The residents demanded universal suffrage in all the seats to allow them to have competent party flag bearers ahead of the August polls.

Friday is the last day for the party to hold the nomination as per the registrar of political parties and they fear that section of Jubilee top brass might corrupt their way and deny the people of Nyandarua a chance to vote.

Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni said the party was encouraging negotiations

Voters claim that the tendency of giving direct nomination tickets or consensus-building by the Jubilee National Elections Board (NEB) will block them from having competent leaders to represent or deliver their mandates to the residents.

They have threatened to either ditch the party or vote for UDA aspirants to teach the party leaders a lesson.

“Whenever there is smoke, there is fire. We hear of reports that Kimemia may have been earmarked for a direct ticket. If this happens, Jubilee will lose a huge chunk of support here in Nyandarua and people might vote for UDA candidate,” Supporters of Sicily said.

They are expected to paralyze the business operations not only in Nyandarua but also staged protests outside the Jubilee office in Nairobi demanding fairness.

“We are struggling to contain the emotions of our supporters. We ask that the party leadership give us explanation and direction,” They said.

Political observers Herman Manyora and Gabriel Muthuma recently told the media that growing displeasure of the aspirants could cause disillusioned voters to stay home and that would hurt Raila’s bid.

They argued that direct tickets could cause voter apathy on August 9 as local competition can generate high voter turnout.

In 2021, Nyandarua residents accused the governor of micromanaging the County and not prioritizing the necessary services such as infrastructure and health.

In 2017, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko has opposed a recommendation to close a case in which former Interior Principal Secretary Mutea Iringo and Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia are accused of misappropriating more than Sh2.9 billion.

Both Mr. Kimemia and Mr. Iringo were the accounting officers in the Office of the President at the time. “To circumvent the established regulations, the ministry operates an account at National Bank of Kenya that is parallel to the regular account at the Central Bank of Kenya,” said the PAC report.

Following the case, Mr. Kimemia was sacked after he was mentioned in the EACC dossier by Uhuru Kenyatta before he contested for the Nyandarua seat in 2017.

Last year, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigators probed the alleged embezzlement of Sh55 million and raided the Nyandarua County Governments’ head offices in Ol Kalou.

The detectives carted away documents related to the county branding tender by a company allegedly linked to the son of a senior county official.

The anti-graft agency central region manager, Charles Rasugu said the raid targeted Governor Francis Kimemia’s office and that of the department of finance.

In 2019, Ndegwa Wahome, the then Speaker of the Nyndarua County assembly, blew the whistle claiming that some county officials had intimated that the local government had held an investors conference at Sh13 million in March with the money stashed in private accounts.