Wanjiru, Sifuna vow to keep governor on toes, ensure prudent use money
By Alvin.Mwangi, May 23, 2022The battle for Nairobi county Senate seat has narrowed to a contest between former Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiru of Kenya Kwanza and the ODM party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna.
Sifuna unsuccessfully contested the seat in 2017.
The victor will be charged with oversighting the county, whose past management has been subject of audit queries.
County is largely under the management of Nairobi Metropolitan Services, which was established to run some key functions after former Governor Mike Sonko was barred from office because he was facing corruption charges.
Speaking to People Daily yesterday, Wanjiru, who had initially expressed interest in the governor’s seat, said her first assignment will be demanding an audit of funds in the county.
“ Once I am sworn in I will first ensure we have done proper audits. Nairobi gets a lot of resources but we as residents never see where the money goes,” she said.
Former Assistant minister for Housing also promised to ensure that both senator and governor work harmoniously.
“The truth of the matter is that Nairobi has been starved of development because of these small fights. If both the senator and governor were reading from the same script, Nairobi would be the city in the sun as it used to be,” she said.
She also vowed to ensure NMS term is not extended. According to her, NMS has done very minimal work but at a very huge cost.
Higher revenue
Kenya Kwanza has settled on Senator Johnson Sakaja as the governor candidate while Azimio has fielded corporate guru Polycarp Igathe.
On his part, Sifuna said he will cultivate a strong working relationship with the governor.
“Sakaja came out strongly on pushing for higher revenue allocations for Nairobi. I will do better in pushing for accountable county leadership,” he said.
He added: “I will ensure that the money allocated to Nairobi is used for projects that will improve the living standards of residents in low and middle-income category.”
In 2017, Sakaja trounced Sifuna after garnering 806,056 votes against the latter’s 670,432.
Electoral agency data shows Nairobi had 2,251,929 registered voters in 2017, however, the number has since increased.