Waiguru: Defending my seat on a Jubilee ticket would be an uphill task if polls were held today

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has stated that defending her seat on a Jubilee ticket if elections were held today would be tricky unless party issues are addressed and the political outfit revamped.

Governor Waiguru, who appeared on Citizen TV’s Day Break, said Jubilee would have a long day battling it out with other political parties or endearing  itself to the electorate.

“The truth of the matter is that defending my seat if the polls were held today would be very difficult, and that is the truth of the matter, Jubilee needs to look internally at its issues in order to be acceptable to the people of Mt Kenya.” Waiguru said on Wednesday 

Governor Waiguru claims that the Mt Kenya region is dissatisfied with how the party has been run over the last five years.

“If I ran today on a Jubilee ticket and someone else ran on a different party, even if people felt I had performed , it would be hard to convince them to vote for me,” she added.

According to Waiguru, the Jubilee party still stands a chance based on its infrastructure, resources, networks, and reach, but it would need some seriou work.

Some of the issues she believes the President Kenyatta-led party should address include returning the party to the people and making them feel like they are a part of it.

“Jubilee has a lot of work in revamping the party and we need to do it fairly fast, revamping the party and resonating with the people,” she added. “People need that emotional connection to the party,” 

Governor Waiguru did not say whether she would join the UDA movement, but she did say she was keeping her options open, claiming that politics is an interesting road that requires careful maneuvering to ensure survival.

“For now, I am spending time on the ground listening to what the people want. One needs to be careful to make the right decision to survive politically. I am asking my people which ‘vehicle’ to use to secure my seat,” 

At the same time, she addressed the public squabbles between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy.

“To be in a position where the President and his DP are not working together is unfortunate…We need to figure out where we went wrong so we do not find ourselves in such a situation again as it affects all of us,” she added. 

She also accused some elements of the state of being behind her summons by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC). 

“In the last 1 year, my county has had over 250 summons to EACC. The information EACC want they can get even without summoning me…” she said. 

She claimed that the same people who lobbied for her impeachment were now behind the EACC summons, pursuing self-serving political agendas.