Kioni faults opposition for abandoning Jubilee candidate in Mbeere North race
By Mabonga Makhanu, September 17, 2025Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni has faulted the united opposition for sidelining his party’s candidate in the Mbeere North by-election in favour of other contenders.
Speaking during an interview on a local radio station on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, Kioni claimed that despite Jubilee being part of the united opposition, the party is being blackmailed within the coalition. He cited the Mbeere North by-election as a clear example.
The former MP explained that after the parliamentary seat fell vacant following Geoffrey Ruku’s appointment to the Cabinet to replace former Public Service CS Justin Muturi, a candidate who had previously vied as an independent but lost approached Jubilee and expressed interest in running for the seat on the party’s ticket.
According to Kioni, the candidate has been actively campaigning ahead of anyone else in the opposition even before the IEBC was in place, only for the coalition to eventually settle on another candidate, leaving the Jubilee aspirant out.
“Our colleagues should not blackmail us. For example, we have these by-elections that are coming. We had a candidate who had approached us immediately after Ruku was appointed to the Cabinet. WeKioni faults the opposition for abandoning the Jubilee candidate in the Mbeere North race immediately after he had a person who came to Jubilee and said, ‘I want to run on the Jubilee ticket,’ and he has been campaigning ahead of anyone else in the opposition,” Kioni said.
Importance of party primaries
While acknowledging the importance of fielding a single coalition candidate to face rivals, Kioni said the problem lies in how aspirants left out of the deal are treated.
He argued that throwing them out of the race, as happened to Jubilee’s candidate, makes the coalition unpopular.
He suggested that the fair approach would have been to conduct party primaries to determine the most suitable candidate, with other aspirants conceding and rallying behind the winner.
“and that we have no quarrel with it, one popular candidate so that we can win, but it is important to know how you deal with those other candidates from other parties. You don’t just throw them under the bus; otherwise, you become very unpopular,” he added.
This development comes just days after the United Opposition agreed to back a Democratic Party (DP) candidate as its flag bearer.
However, the DCP later withdrew its candidate, who eventually defected to run under Moses Kuria’s Chama Cha Kazi party.