This archive report was first published on 26 October 2021.
On Tuesday, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru made public her decision to defect to Deputy President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, a move that has dealt a significant blow to Jubilee.
Waiguru's announcement came after weeks of speculation and followed a meeting with the Deputy President at his Karen residence, accompanied by 29 Kirinyaga Members of County Assembly (MCAs).
The county has a total of 33 MCAs.
Waiguru cited her support for Ruto's bottom-up economy model as the reason for her decision to join UDA, stating that she had consulted with her family and Kirinyaga residents before making the move.
"We are happy the governor has finally listened to the will of the residents," said Wamumu MCA Baptista Kanga, who was present at the meeting. "We have been telling her to defect to the popular UDA and she has not let us down."
However, Waiguru's decision to join UDA may not be without its challenges, as she will have to contend with Kirinyaga Woman Representative Wangui Ngirici, who has also declared her candidacy for the gubernatorial seat in the UDA primaries.
Waiguru's decision to defect to UDA comes after she expressed concerns about her ability to defend her seat in Jubilee, citing the party's unpopularity in the Mount Kenya region.
"Defending my seat on a Jubilee ticket if the polls were held today would be very difficult," Waiguru said in a previous statement. "The truth of the matter is that Jubilee has become so unpopular in Mount Kenya region."
Waiguru had also expressed fears that Jubilee needed to be revamped in order to regain the trust of the residents in the region.
Waiguru was first elected as governor on a Jubilee ticket in 2017, in a hotly contested poll.
Source: https://nation.africa/
