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Sonko takes the battle to State House

Details have emerged that Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has informally declared war with State operatives out to usurp power from him.
The unexpected resignation of Polycarp Igathe as Nairobi Deputy Governor is just a tip of the iceberg of the drama set to unfold at City Hall.

According to sources close to the Governor and privy to The Sunday Standard, Sonko’s refusal to accommodate former State House employee and County Secretary nominee Peter Kariuki is believed to have inspired Igathe’s decision to quit. Furthermore, has effectively put the city boss on a war path with a man he has avoided clashing with throughout his years in politics, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
There are fears that the fallout between Sonko and his deputy could split the party’s leadership in Nairobi into two, like it did when he was vying for the Jubilee ticket.

During the run-up to the August 8th polls, most Jubilee legislators, with blessings from the party’s leadership, ganged up to prevent Mr Mbuvi from clinching the party ticket.
It took the intervention of Deputy President William Ruto after it dawned on the leadership that it was going to be impossible to stop him.

Igathe’s Nomination

Igathe was among nine people the governor was considering as a running mate when he won the Jubilee ticket in April, 2017.

According to Sonko’s senior political adviser Onchari Oyieyo ,Mr Igathe was not even among the top candidates for the position.

“It is indeed the President who ultimately helped on matters campaign in as much as Sonko did his mobilisation,” he told The Sunday Standard.

Kariuki’s controversial Appointment

According to Mr Onchari, trouble started when Igathe conspired with people (names withheld) and lied to the governor that State House wanted Mr Kariuki appointed county secretary.

Although Sonko had reservations on Kariuki’s appointment,he agreed because of his rapport with the President and would not have wanted to undermine a recommendation from State House.

“However, following some consultations, we discovered that Kariuki was in fact an impostor.

If the President wanted Kariuki to be county secretary, he would have told the governor the way he told him when recommending the nomination of Elachi as County Assembly speaker,” he said.

This claim, however, contradicts a statement made by President Uhuru when he attended a special task force meeting on the re-generation of Nairobi chaired by Governor Sonko at Harambee House.

The Head of State acknowledged Kariuki’s nomination for the county secretary post.

“The meeting agreed that in the next four weeks, all relevant state departments and city county departments re-align their procurement plans to ensure relevant allocations are available for the implementation of the programme,” read Uhuru’s statetment on November 8.

During the meeting,Tourism CS Najib Balala and Igathe co-chaired a technical committee of the special task force that was supposed to synchronize Nairobi county’s operations with those of six national government ministries for key projects.

Those who attended the meeting ,however, say Sonko and his close circle of friends were uncomfortable with this idea as it would usurp the powers of the governor and amounts to giving State House control of county affairs.
It is understood that the outcome of this meeting is what sowed the initial seeds of fallout between governor Sonko and his deputy.

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