Maina Kamanda Concedes Defeat, to Support Jaguar for Starehe Seat

Maina Kamanda has conceded defeat in the Jubilee primaries for the Starehe MP seat. Kamanda, the incumbent area MP, also said he will support musician Charles Njagua Kanyi, popularly known as Jaguar, as well as President Uhuru Kenyatta in the August general elections.

Kamanda said he will not run as an independent candidate in the general election, as doing so would divide the votes and deliver the seat to the opposition. “ Will will support the President and the party. If I run as an independent candidate, we will divide our votes and both of us will lose,” Kamanda said on Thursday in an address to the press from his Muthaiga home.

His move comes a day after the Jubilee Party Appeals Tribunal ruled that Jaguar was the validly elected aspirant in the Jubilee nomination last week, even after the returning officer declared Maina Kamanda the winner with 10,374 votes against Jaguar’s 8,391. In declaring Jaguar the winner, the Appeals Tribunal ruled that Jaguar had garnered more votes than Kamanda but the final tally was manipulated in Kamanda’s favor.

Kamanda maintains that he won the seat, claiming some people inside Jubilee Party headquarters rigging him out so that they could young people elected. "There were some forces that believed the young generation will bring more votes than the old,” said Kamanda.

Jaguar will face-off with other youthful aspirants in businessman Steve Mbogo of ODM and activist Boniface Mwangi of Ukweli party.