Mwende wa Gatabaki wife to Economist Dr David Ndii has for the first time told the public the genesis of differences between her husband who is currently one of top advivisors of the deputy president and ODM leader Raila Odinga after the March 9th Handshake.
In an interview with a local publication, Mrs Ndii, who is eyeing the Kiambu governor’s seat says other NASA summit members expected Mr Odinga to negotiate for power with President Uhuru, in an arrangement that would have seen Jubilee and NASA share cabinet slots.
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”The ‘Handshake’ is what led to the falling-out. The agreement was that Raila was to negotiate for some form of power-sharing between Jubilee and Nasa – especially since it took a lot of convincing for the other Nasa principals to accept Raila as the flag-bearer [they had completely refused]. But Raila went ahead without telling them and negotiated an arrangement just for himself,” she said.
Apart from the truce with President Uhuru, Dr. David Ndii, his wife says,felt the push by the two handshake brothers to ammend the constitution through the BBI was a rushed one which did not have anything tangible for Kenyans.
Kiambu gubernatorial seat which Mrs Ndii is currently eyeing has attracted five aspirants among them the incumbent James Nyoro, Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina wa Jungle, Senator Kimani Wamatangi, ex-governor William Kabogo and ex-county official Juliet Kimemia.
”The first governor, William Kabogo, did excellent work in refurbishing hospitals, building roads and markets. The second governor, (Ferdinand) Waititu, was impeached, and Dr Nyoro took over. However, the above challenges of low agricultural production, poor education results, youth unemployment, impact of climate change and sanitation challenges continue unabated. My desire as governor is to focus on these challenges and take Kiambu back to the position it used to be,” she said, adding that she is not keen on running under any of the main parties’ tickets.
”Listening to the ground, I’m strongly proposing to the Kiambu people that they should learn from the past and not make mistakes they have made before, where they have elected leaders based on party alignment – that its more important to elect a leader who will provide leadership and serve them effectively regardless of the party they are on. For this reason, I’m not focusing on the choice of a party right now.”
