Revealed: How State House meeting birthed Polycarp Igathe Nairobi governor bid

A State House meeting and zoning of Nairobi within the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party resulted in the re-entry of Polycarp igathe to the Nairobi gubernatorial race.

Nairobi has been Azimio’s second biggest headache; the first one being the yet to be resolved question of Raila Odinga's running mate.

With the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party producing the presidential candidate, Jubilee negotiated for the Nairobi governor position.

Details are now emerging of the horse-trading preceding Polycarp Igathe's late entry into the Nairobi governor race with sources indicating that President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party bid for the city in exchange for its support for Raila Odinga's State House bid.

The horse-trading was bound to result in casualties; Tim Wnayonyi, the Westlands MP who had run a highly visible campaign for Nairobi governor retreated to his Parliamentary seat to pave way for Igathe's candidature.

Wanyonyi initially put up a fight but a meeting in State House, said to have been attended by the Azimio top brass, saw Wanyonyi concede the governor position for that of deputy governor.

With President Kenyatta and the Jubilee Party getting their wish for Nairobi’s governor candidate, a new complication arose.

Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper party suddenly muddled the waters with a demand for the running mate slot.

The ensuing stalemate was resolved at the KICC, with Wanyonyi taking another hit that landed him back in his Westlands Parliamentary seat.

“Leadership is about serving people, this has been my philosophy for the past 15 years and I am confident it shall remain so,” he said in a solo press address after the meeting.

“As I said before, it has never been about me, it shall never be about me, it will always be about the people. I am ready to serve the people of Westlands for the third term and I remain firmly in my party ODM.”

Prof. Philip Kaloki was then picked by Wiper to deputise Igathe; this was a horizontal shift for Kaloki who had initially done rounds in Nairobi as running mate for another Jubilee aspirant, Richard Ngatia.

 Ngatia's candidature sunk in the new scheme of things and the former aspirant was instead named 'trade advisor' to President Kenyatta.

The KICC meeting which was overshadowed by the breaking news of former President Mwai Kibaki's death, also resolved contests for other positions with Senate, Woman Representative and County Assembly speaker seats being reserved for ODM.

At the constituency level, ODM and Jubilee each got 8 constituencies while Wiper was allocated Embakasi South.

Out of the 85 Members of the County Assembly seats in Nairobi, ODM will field candidates in 41 wards, leaving the rest to be shared out by Jubilee, Wiper and other Azimio affiliates.