Sakaja, Igathe trade barbs in heated Nairobi Governor Debate

Igathe took every opportunity to chastise Sakaja about the controversy surrounding his academic credentials, which has sparked heated debate both online and offline.

While responding to questions about his governor bid, Igathe claimed to have beaten two other candidates for the Jubilee ticket. He claimed- tongue-in-cheek, that they also didn't have degrees. 

"Within the party, there were two other people, the ones who were running against me within the party also did not have degrees, I beat them," 

Sakaja, on the other hand, took advantage of the opportunity to criticize Igathe's candidacy, claiming that Igathe was being sponsored by the State to run.

Sakaja claimed that he had arrived at the debate at least 20 minutes late in order to give his competitor a head start.

"My opponent is used to head starts, and we are here, amezoea kupewa head starts, no need to talk about the headstart, from the government, and so on," Sakaja explained.

He also weighed in on Igathe's feud with Sonko, which led to Igathe's resignation as Nairobi deputy governor.

According to Sakaja, that was enough proof that if push comes to shove, Igathe will bolt. 

"When we talk about public trust at the expense of private convenience, that is the question we must answe," Sakaja said. 

"If you stuck in office Governor Sonko would not have been impeached, If you stuck in office, maybe you would be the incumbent governor,"

According to Sakaja, Igathe quit after only six months on the job, demonstrating his inability to withstand the "heat in the kitchen."

"This city needs resilience, you need to be tough. You cannot say you betrayed, how many votes did you say you guys got?"

In a rebuttal, Igathe turned up the heat on the degree question, saying that "uttering false documents, falls flat in the face of intergrity. 

"I'll tell you what is not integrity... is uttering false documents and then standing here and saying I have integrity," Igathe said. 

'Go to the EACC website and check what Sakaja cited as his degree in 2017... it is a public document, and then look at the degree he say is is today, we don't know who he is, is your name really Sakaja?"  Igathe posed

The debate reached a fever pitch after Sakaja accused Igathe of being sponsored to vie by the state. 

According to Sakaja, there are receipts to the contrary that prove that some chiefs, and local administration have been cajoled to influence voting for Igathe. 

"You cannot force individuals, DCCs, assistant chiefs.... the meeting at St.Georges primary school we know all these things, I can table this evidence," 

In his defense, the former Nairobi governor told the panelist that he joined politics in 2017, and has since been a member of the Jubilee party. 

"I made a decision to get into politics in March 2017.... Igathe is his own man, ni uamuzi wangu binafs kuingia politics," Igathe said 

"Kuna watu wanasema nimeingia siasa Juzi, nilichaguliwa na kura 869,000," na sasa nimerudi tena kusimama, ni uamuzi wangu kusimama," 

Igathe who appeared for the Nairobi Governor debate alongside his competitor, Johnson Sakaja said his campaigns are funded from his own pockets as well as by donations from friends. 

"My campaigns are funded by me and my friends" he added.