Ward leader says he’ll make Ichung’wah third bid in Kikuyu pipe dream
One-term Kinoo Ward Rep Samuel Kimani (right) insists he will challenge outspoken Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah in the August poll.
Ichung’wah, one of Deputy President William Ruto’s diehard allies, is seeking a third term as MP, this time on a UDA ticket, having been re-elected unopposed in 2017.
The MCA has trained his eyes on this seat, but through Jubilee Party. Kimani, who chairs the county Assembly Finance committee, acknowledges that ousting Ichung’wah is not a walk in the park.
But he says while some may view him as an underdog, he is determined to unseat the MP, who is now one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s vociferous critics.
David vs Goliath
“Ichung’wah has been riding on false fame which has made him arrogant. But the bigger he appears, the easier it is for me to beat him... With my small bullet, I will not struggle much while aiming it at him. David in the Bible had five stones but used only one to kill giant Goliath. I have five campaign pillars; any one of them can bring him down. Ichung’wah says because he is behind Ruto and he is in UDA, no one can beat him. I am facing him like David did,” he said.
“The majority of people in Kikuyu feel misrepresented. Whenever our MP moves from place to place insulting the President, it is misconstrued to mean the entire constituency is disrespectful, yet we respect Uhuru,” he said.
Ichung’wah, who has been rated among the most popular MPs in Mt Kenya region, has dismissed Jubilee as a dead outfit which will not win any seat locally.
“No single UDA-affiliated MP is moved by their (Jubilee members) useless threats from a dead party. He (Uhuru) should shut his shell of a party now,” Ichung’wah was recently quoted as saying.
But the MCA, like other Jubilee aspirants, remains hopeful that ongoing efforts to rejuvenate the party will bear fruit as part of efforts to defeat rebels.
Vice-chairman David Murathe has said: “We (Jubilee) are dealing directly with the people. In Mt Kenya, very few leaders are re-elected. In 2017, only Governor Mwangi wa Iria was re-elected in Central. About 80 per cent of MPs were rejected.”
The MCA said although his mandate was restricted to county matters, he had played national roles, notably championing the recognition of more than 5,000 members of Shona community in Kikuyu and Kiambaa constituencies by ensuring they got national identification cards, 60 years after they arrived from Zimbabwe.
Currently, he is working on a petition in favour of internally displaced people who are yet to be settled 15 years after the 2007/08 post-election violence.
since they were evicted, adding “I feel I have been doing what the MP should be doing. I feel I can serve the people better and efficiently when I am in the National Assembly,” Kimani said.
