Mike Sonko Shortlists Four for Deputy Governor’s Office

By Virginia Mwangi

Nairobi County Governor has nominated four Kenyans for consideration to deputize him at the helm of the county.

Nairobi County has been without a deputy Governor since the resignation Of Polycarp Igathe, on 31st January, following his fall out with the county’s Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko.

Mike Sonko, who has recently topped the headlines in dramas revolving the demolition of structures on riparian land, had previously nominated estranged Miguna Miguna, who had also contested the Nairobi Governor seat but was turned down by the Senate.

“I want to apologize because I selected Miguna Miguna out of anger and bitterness. There was a lot of pressure, intimidation, and blackmail and so I gave them Miguna,” Sonko said during an interview with a local radio station where he apologized to his Jubilee Party for picking the lawyer without consultations with the party’s leadership.

The four nominees are Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, Jane Weru, Caren Nyamu and Agnes Kagure.

Margaret Wanjiru is a televangelist-turned-politician who contested against Sonko and failed in the Jubilee nominees. The Jesus Is Alive bishop has, previously, not hidden her interests in the seat long even before Sonko had selected Igathe to deputize him. Wanjiru even claimed to have had a prior agreement with Sonko to have her deputize him which apparently Sonko did not and preferred Igathe instead. Whether the agreement, if ever there was any, will be honored or not is yet to be seen.

Jane Weru, a lawyer, has a master’s degree in NGO management from the London School of Economics and is currently an executive director of Akiba Mashinani Trust.

Caren Nyamu is a former Nairobi Women Representative aspirant on the Jubilee ticket, whose campaign slogan was ‘Bae Wa Nai’. Caren too is not shy of controversy with stories of how she tried to defraud a telecommunication company still doing rounds online.

Agnes Kagure Kariuki is an insurance executive, a gender activist and an insurance executive; she has been voted Agent of the Year for seven straight years by the Association of Kenya Insurers even featuring among the Top 40 Women under 40 covered by the Business Daily. Agnes, however, has a long way to go in finding favor with Nairobi residents as she still has unresolved court cases regarding land in Karen and Umoja’s Inner core. Agnes was elected the patron of the Kenya University Students’ Organization (KUSO), in July, during a meeting of the association where the Nairobi Governor was also present.

The Nairobi Governor has put it out that he prefers a woman for the job with the “why” going unanswered.