‘Stop misleading voters,’ Bahati tells Azimio after being asked to drop out of MP race

Musician Kevin Kioko, popularly known as Bahati has responded to calls from Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya alliance to have him step out of the Mathare Parliamentary race.

After Azimio settled on having ODM’s Anthony Oluoch as their flagbearer in the constituency polls, Bahati has now vowed not to back off.

“Dear Azimio… stop misleading the voters of Mathare. Bahati – MP Mathare has not stepped down for anyone," he wrote in a social media post.

The Mama singer thereafter held a press conference, where he dismissed calls from ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and Public Service CAS Rachel Shebesh to have him step down.

“I have seen a lot of propaganda by Sifuna and Shebesh going viral. I heard it while in the ground, Bahati Kioko is still in the race as the next Member of Parliament Mathare constituency,” he said.

Bahati added that last month Azimio Presidential candidate Raila Odinga said the coalition will have polls in June to settle the stalemate of having various parties under Azimio fielding candidates in the same electoral seats.

He says that the coalition settled on having the most popular candidate as the flag bearer, saying that he outdid his opponent Anthony Oluoch.

“I was called for a meeting being chaired by Hon Gumo, Shebesh and many others. They made it clear that Bahati is leading both in the polls and on the ground. They made it clear that the incumbent is not doing well on ground and has resisted stepping down.”

Bahati claimed that the Azimio team made follow-up calls and meetings, saying he is leading in the polls but should shelve his ambitions.

On Monday, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said that its candidate Aluoch is preferred to run for the seat and that Bahati will step aside and be considered for another position.

This, Bahati claims is propaganda since Jubilee Party is not aware of such plans.

In April, the singer broke into tears after being asked to drop his Mathare MP bid in favour of the ODM candidate.

Weeks later, Bahati was handed his nomination certificate by Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni, who hailed him for putting up a spirited fight.