‘I do not have a godfather, I am my own man,’ Polycarp Igathe insists

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya party’s Nairobi governorship candidate Polycarp Igathe has insisted that he is contesting for the county’s top seat owing to his own ambitions and not because he has been handpicked by the so-called deep state.

Speaking to Citizen TV on Thursday evening, Igathe underscored that he was able to toss his hat into Nairobi's political arena owing to his successes in the corporate world which he says he achieved through years of hard work and dedication.

According to Igathe, it is worrying how Kenyans always make the assumption that if a person manages to make something out of himself in life, he is likely being sponsored by a more established and seasoned individual.

He went on to state that owing to his success when he worked for late billionaire Chris Kirubi, people automatically began labelling him as the business mogul’s son, even though their relationship was purely professional.

“There is a narrative in this country beyond politics which we have to discard.  We cannot have a country where when people achieve, we start saying they have a godfather, this narrative has been sold for far too long,” he said.

“I want to tell every young person out there, work hard, dress up and show up. Be true to yourself and pray to God. If you do that one day you will be able to sit down and ask people to make you the governor of Nairobi.  I am not the last governor of Nairobi, neither am I the first but I am my own man.”

Igathe was on Friday unveiled as Azimio la Umoja One Kenya party’s Nairobi governorship candidate by the outfit’s leader Raila Odinga who laid out the political faction’s much-awaited line-up for the country’s capital.

Odinga revealed that Igathe will run for the Nairobi governorship on a joint ticket with former Kibwezi MP Philip Kaloki as his running mate.