Starehe MP Jaguar to defend seat as independent candidate after losing UDA ticket

Starehe Member of Parliament Charles Njagua, alias Jaguar, now says he will defend his seat at the August polls as an independent candidate.

This comes after his rival, East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Simon Mbugua, was handed the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket for the Parliamentary seat following the party’s heavily contested nominations.

Taking to his social media platforms on Friday, Jaguar underscored that despite being snubbed for the UDA ticket, he had held consultative talks with his constituents who urged him to defend his seat on whichever platform.

“Watu wa Starehe wamesema hawapangwingwi and the will of the people cannot be ignored. I met with the people of Central ward na wamesema Starehe bila Jaguar si Starehe. By the will of the people I will be defending my seat as an independent candidate. Tupatane kwa debe,” he said.

UDA’s primaries in Starehe were cancelled last week owing to what the party labelled as security issues.

The party would however use opinion polls to settle on Mbugua’s candidature, much to the dismay of Jaguar who claimed that the ratings were biased in favour of his rival.

He likewise alleged that his constituents were denied the right to exercise their rights at the ballot following the cancellation of the primaries, taking to Twitter to express his frustrations.

“The people of Starehe were denied their democratic right to go to the ballot again for the nominations and choose their leader. The party decided to carry out opinion polls to decide whom to award the nomination certificate and it has been done,” he said then.

The legislator correspondingly shared images from polls allegedly carried out by Infotrak which positioned him as the most preferred candidate in Starehe, with a popularity rating exceeding 30 per cent.