The ruling Jubilee Party candidate for Nairobi gubernatorial candidate Polycarp Igathe is will bring sobriety in the running of the city county. According to a spot check conducted randomly, many of our interviewees said that Nairobi had finally identified the right man for the job in the career administrator.
Igathe was last Friday unveiled as the Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya alliance flag bearer for the city hall job on a Jubilee ticket as the party seeks to retain the seat it won in 2017 through former governor Mike Sonko and Igathe as the then deputy governor.
Our voxpop interviews revealed that Nairobi residents have faith in the Igathe, Prof. Philip Kaloki ticket come the August 9, 2022 general elections.
“Nairobi will be in a good pair of hands with Igathe. He is a manager and astute businessman who is capable to bring sobriety in city politics,” Said Joseph Githiga, a carpets trader along Jogoo road.
Another trader Titus Mutua said that Igathe will be a good manager for the city and his choice of running mate makes his candidature formidable one. Prof. Philip Kaloki is a scholar and former Kibwezi MP.
“This is the right combination because Nairobi is a business hub. We should look for a good manager not a politician and Igathe fits the bill,” Mutua said.
Paul Wanyama said that Igathe has a clean past and his track record at all places he has worked is impeccable.
“We have a governor finally. Igathe has been in the corporate circles and in all the companies he has worked, he has worked with distinction. I believe he will bring the much needed managerial skills in City hall,” Wanyama said.
Igathe in 2017 resigned from Vivo Energy where he worked as CEO to join politics. The 49-year-old would come to the political limelight where he ran alongside Sonko and won to become Nairobi’s second Deputy Governor.
In the arrangement, Mr Igathe was to run the policy, administration and management of the city county, while Mr Sonko was to do the political legwork.
The former Equity Group Holdings Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) in January 2018, barely five months after being sworn in as deputy governor, Mr Igathe quit his post, saying he had not earned the trust of Sonko to run the administration and management of the county.
“I am going to be the first politician who demonstrates that politics is not about looting wholesale from public coffers to distribute retail to your few friends, but it is about service and transforming livelihoods,” Igathe said.
“Nairobi is the front porch of Kenya and it needs our best and I am saying that I rank among the best,” he said.
