Battle for Kiambu governor seat is shaping up with key candidates preparing the ground to unseat Dr James Nyoro in next year.

Aspirants who have been working to win the hearts  the electorate ahead of the next year contest include Nyoro, Senator Kimani Wamatangi and Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina alias Jungle.

Lately, their respective supporters have been going full throttle on each other in social media platforms pointing to a possible cut-throat competition.

Former Governor William Kabogo has remained ambivalent but his allies say he is monitoring political realignments at the national level before declaring his political interest.

While Nyoro will be seeking to retain the seat he landed after his boss Ferdinand Waititu was impeached, the second-time senator Wamatangi, who is also the Senate Majority Whip, together with Wainaina, a first-term MP, will be making their first attempt for the coveted seat.

If he decides to join the race, Kabogo will be seeking re-election following his humiliating defeat by Waititu who garnered 716,336 votes against his 192,045 in the 2017 General Election. Kabogo accused Deputy President William Ruto of orchestrating his loss, then.

A sibling political rivalry between Nyoro, Wamatangi and Wainaina has been raging leading to occasional public spats.

Nyoro, who has heightened activities in the county, is hoping to ride on his development projects to woo the more than a million voters in the county.

He has cited revival of stalled projects such as Tigoni-Karuri water pipeline in Kiambaa that will see close to 20,000 residents access water, the county’s Covid-19 administration centres at Tigoni and Wangige hospitals.

Others are construction of new hospitals and isolation wards in Ruiru, installation of bulk oxygen in all the Level 4 and 5 hospitals and installation of an ICU facility at Kiambu Level 5 hospital.

He is also banking on rehabilitation of roads, distribution of seeds to farmers, completion of markets and sinking of boreholes at Ondiri and Juja farm.

“We are very much actively delivering projects that will improve the lives of our people.

We are ready to ensure that Kiambu shines again before the end of my tenure and from our track record, it’s evident that we have and will continue to deliver,” he said.

Kabogo has insisted he will go for the presidency on a party he is yet to name.  “I have what it takes to run for the highest office in the land.

I have the education, resources and leadership skills,” he told journalists in a recent interview in response to queries on whether he will contest the Kiambu governor seat.

Wamatangi hopes to ride on his legislative achievements including his push for laws that will enable populous counties allocated more resources to ensure equity in development.

The senator, who spearheaded enactment of Assumption of the Governor’s Office Act and an amendment of the Micro and Small-Enterprises Act to boost small businesses, yesterday said when the right time comes, he would make the decision and that currently he is “open to every option”.

 “I am keen on first delivering to the people of Kiambu, Mt Kenya and the country at large to ensure equity and equality in distribution of resources, especially in popular counties.

I am in my second cycle of a one-man-one-vote-one-shilling campaign, and my aim is to have the allocation above 30 per cent. 

Once we are done with this transformative and legislative agenda, and when time comes, we will make a decision, and no option is off the table for us,” he said.

The senator, through his Wamatangi Foundation, has been offering community services.

Wainaina has, through his Jungle Foundation, been seeking to endear himself to the youths by constructing boda boda shades in Gatundu North, South, Juja and Ruiru constituencies as well as donating avocado and macadamia seedlings across the county.

“I have been delivering the shades project as requested by  motorbike operators. It’s sad that some people have been pulling them down,” he said.

Since March last year when the first Covid-19 case was announced in the country, Wainaina through his foundation, has also been criss-crossing the county distributing materials to help combat the virus, projects he hopes to use to woo voters besides his development track record in his constituency.