'Somebody lied to DP Ruto': MC Jessy explains why he lost UDA ticket in South Imenti MP race

Comedian-turned-politician Jasper Muthomi, alias MC Jessy, has opened up on why he decided to contest for South Imenti's parliamentary seat at the August polls as an independent candidate after missing out on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket.

In April, the Deputy President William Ruto-led party handed Mwiti Kathaara a direct ticket to contest for South Imenti's parliamentary seat, skipping MC Jessy.

The aspiring MP now says he was heart-broken when DP Ruto urged him to drop his bid for Kathaara, intimating that the latter was the most preferred candidate according to area residents.

Jessy is however of the opinion that certain individuals within the UDA ranks watered down his influence in Meru County and reported to DP Ruto that Kathaara was the most popular aspirant in the region.

This, MC Jessy says, was the main reason he was overlooked by UDA.

"I was not tricked; somebody lied to the Deputy President about Jessy in South Imenti. He was not depending on his own knowledge. The Deputy President was depending on his soldiers so he assigned people to help him in getting candidates in all the areas," said Jessy.

"Of course not every person that he trusted with the responsibility was honest, especially men. The person there was not honest to the DP. He went and lied to him about Jessy.”

After failing to land the UDA ticket, Jessy says DP Ruto offered him a role in his presidential campaign team but he declined noting that the designation did not line up with his ambition to serve the people of South Imenti.

"That is not my vision, my dream is not there, my dream is in South Imenti. If I took the job how would I have helped the people of South Imenti?" He posed.

A while later, during a face-to-face chat with DP Ruto, Jessy informed the Kenya Kwanza alliance frontman that he would still contest for the seat by going the independent route.

"After some deliberation with DP Ruto, I told him that I wanted to go it alone and he wished me all the best," said Jessy.