Ngatia inches closer after bagging Wiper support

Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Richard Ngatia’s fortunes for the joint Azimio ticket recieved a major boost after Wiper Democratic Party backed his bid.

Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka on Friday announced that the party had ceded ground in favour of Ngatia who is running on the Jubilee ticket.

Before that, Wiper’s Philip Kaloki stepped down from the race amd will now be Ngatia’s running mate.

Kalonzo announced that the party was making sacrifices to solidify Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Coalition’s support in the capital city.

” We want to move as a team that is formidable and upto the task,” Kalonzo said.

Kalonzo said that Azimio was determined to take over the running of Nairobi which is now under the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).

On his part, Mr Kaloki said that he was happy to work with Ngatia, adding that he is going to give him full support.

” Even as l step down,l want to make it clear that l am going to give full support to Ngatia,” Kaloki said.

The move comes one day after Kalonzo hosted ODM’s Tim Wanyonyi who is also eying the seat.

Speculations are rife that Kalonzo is leading the talks for the Azimio team before the final team is unveiled jointly with ODM leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta who is also the Jubilee party leader.

Ngatia has been optimistic that he will fly the Azimio flag in Nairobi and has vowed to ensure the coalition wins majority seats both in the national assembly and the county assembly.

Wiper’s support to Ngatia comes after intense deliberations involving party officials.

The support is expected to bring on board close to 200,000 Kamba votes in Nairobi to Ngatia’s basket.