When President Uhuru Kenyatta recently announced the revival of the ruling Jubilee party, he may have inadvertently thrown the race for the Nakuru gubernatorial race wide open.
The county with over 1million voters is still regarded as the Jubilee stronghold despite losing some of its members to the United Democratic Alliance led by Deputy President William Ruto.
The contest was fast shaping up as a two-horse race between bitter political rivals Governor Lee Kinyanjui and Senator Susan Kihika.
However, Jubilee revival plan means the two political rivals who don't see eye to eye have their work cut out and will have to prepare for a tough political battle.
While Ms Kihika is likely to be an outright UDA flag bearer, Mr Kinyanjui, whose yet to be launched Ubuntu Peoples Forum is firmly in the Azimio coalition, will fight it out with a Jubilee candidate for the coalition ticket.
Political pundits in the region are tipping Mr Kinyanjui who is one of President Kenyatta's strongest allies outside the Mt Kenya region, to clinch the Azimio coalition ticket.
However, it will not be a walk in the park for the governor in the coalition primaries as Jubilee supporters in the region are no longer speaking in one voice due to political wrangles that have rocked the party that was birthed at Nakuru's Afraha Stadium in 2013.
Nakuru Politician and Senatorial Aspirant on Azimio ticket Koigi Wamwere said with the revival of Jubilee, it is now a “tactical race” that will depend on the candidates' political credentials, mobilisation skills and development track records which Governor Kinyanjui enjoys at the moment.
"It is a tight race that could go either way depending on how the gubernatorial candidates mobilise their supporters and who among the candidates will get the President's backing," said Mr Wamwere.
"Although Uhuru is no longer King of Kikuyu and his word is no longer law and gospel truth, the gubernatorial race is increasingly becoming a tight contest among individual candidates rather than parties, thanks to split in Jubilee which was the dominant party in the last two elections," said Mr Wamwere.
Already, Dr Stanley Karanja, a scholar, has announced his candidature on the Jubilee ticket and vowed to give any Azimio coalition aspirants for the gubernatorial race a good run for their money.
"I hope to be the flag bearer for the Azimio coalition. I'm optimistic of winning in the primaries," said Dr Karanja who made a political debut in 2013 in the Nakuru Town East parliamentary race before trying his luck as a running mate of former Senator James Mungai in 2017 gubernatorial race as independent candidates.
The announcement by President Kenyatta was, perhaps, one of the biggest relief to Jubilee party aspirants whose vehicle has been rocked by a wave of defections that has left party supporters at crossroads. Mr Kinyanjui is exuding confidence in clinching the Azimio coalition ticket.
“I will be seeking my reelection as Nakuru governor on Ubuntu People Forum party (UDF ticket and Hebrew 6:10 will be my guiding principle in this election: 'God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them' said Mr Kinyanjui in what sounded like a divine intervention ahead of the polls.
"The President is soon retiring and it means if we have problems we have no one to call in the top office," he said.
He poked holes on UDA and its bottom-up economic model saying it is unworkable. He urged Jubilee supporters who had defected to support the Azimio coalition.
"Those who may laugh with you are not necessarily your friends. I want to tell those joining these parties that a time will come when they will be kicked out. We need to organise ourselves through a party like Ubuntu Peoples Forum Party and have an equal voice in the distribution of national pie in the next government," said Mr Kinyanjui
He added: "We should make informed decisions on parties and leaders because in the previous governments Nakuru never benefited from ministerial posts being dished out to Bomet, Kericho, Baringo counties and other parts of Kenya."
Ms Kihika, who is fondly referred to as Nakuru's political iron lady, has launched a fierce campaign in social media as the best-suited person to address the challenges facing Nakuru County.
"As a leader who believes in Kenya Kwanza vision and bottom-up economic model, Nakuru County has limitless opportunities and together we shall economically emancipate our people and provide better services closer to them," said Ms Kihika in her verified Facebook post.
She has been on a fearless political warpath since she was elected in 2017. She has been consolidating her political base among the elected legislators in the region.
She led the UDA brigade to clinch the London Ward by-election which was held by a Jubilee elected leader. Out of the 11 elected MPs, at least eight have been supporting her bid.
But Mr Kinyanjui hopes to ride on his development record to retain the seat as both his critics and supporters agree his initiatives are changing the face of Nakuru County.
"The work we started and have done is a good testimony of what we had promised our people. When I came here there were no nursery school teachers. When I came here Nakuru was a municipality. Today Nakuru is a City, we have solid waste management structures in place, avocado and pyrethrum farming are thriving," said Mr Kinyanjui.
However, Ms Kihika dismissed the governor’s development record saying "the use of development funds in some areas like Kuresoi North is not convincing and residents have continued to experience hardships despite the billions of shillings that have been received by the county."
"I'm very happy about the revival of Jubilee. The spirit of the supporters in Nakuru is still alive. We have shown character in the past and we now have to get ourselves together for our party," said Ms Njeri Kamune.
Mr Peter Koskey, who criticised the Jubilee administration, said he has defected to UDA.
"I'm disappointed with the bitter Jubilee divorce by the two principals. Because of this divorce, I don't want to take any chances, I'm now firmly in UDA."
