Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria has declared he is not interested in running for the gubernatorial seat in Nakuru come the next general elections.
He said this over the weekend as he handed over cheques to beneficiaries of the Uwezo fund in his constituency. A total of Ksh. 9 million was distributed to benefit youth, women and person with disabilities.
“I am not interested in running for governor for now. My people need me more at the constituency level and that is where am going to serve them,” said Gikaria.
From the start of this year Gikaria has been involved in a wrangle with Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua with word going round that he is preparing himself for the gubernatorial race in the coming elections.
Their disagreement has largely been around the relocation of hawkers which the MP has been opposing. In April the Governor called for his arrest after he allegedly got involved in a scuffle to oppose the demolition of informal structures in the town that left some county officials critically injured.
His announcement might therefore be seen as a smart move to either mend to start mending ways with Governor Mbugua. During the event at the Nyayo gardens he even went ahead to praise the governor for “waiving the cost” to him.
“The cost normally is sh50,000 but Mr. Kinuthia has directed that we use it for free,” said Gikaria.
He added that he had decided to “humble himself” and cooperate with the governor for the sake of moving the development agenda of the county.
“When the Governor and I are at fighting politically, the common man fails to get services,” said Gikaria.
He also went ahead to explain that he had also mended ways with the Nakuru police boss Bernard Kioko.
“Somebody had fed falsehoods to the OCPD about me. The truth has finally come out and am at a very good working relation with Kioko. He has provided us with enough security today and I commend him for the good work he continues to do,” he said of the police boss.
There has been discussion on probable candidates for the seat of the Governor in the county for a quite a while now. About two weeks ago NACADA chairman John Mututho announced he would run for it in the coming elections. His announcement was not taken well by the incumbent who challenged him to concentrate on his roles in the drug use fighting agency.
Other people said to be interested in the seat include the current Senator, James Mungai however performed poorly in a recent survey by Infotrak on how voters rate Senators in the country.
By Martin Gicangi.
