Kenya’s football star Macdonald Mariga on Monday emerged as a surprise contender in the upcoming Kibra by-election.
This is after a letter was shared on social media purporting to contain the names of five aspirants who will be seeking to replace the late Ken Okoth on a Jubilee ticket.
However, the party dismissed the document as fake news and urged Kenyans to ignore any claims made in the doctored letter.
“This letter doing rounds online is fake news. Please ignore and treat it with the contempt it deserves,” the Party said.
The party’s secretary-general Raphael Tuju had earlier on Monday announced that Jubilee leadership had consulted and decided to feature a candidate.
He said their analysis and consultations confirm that Jubilee is competitive enough in the forthcoming political contest.
“It is noteworthy that the neighbouring Lang’ata constituency was won by a Jubilee candidate contrary to conventional political analysis. We are therefore giving notice to our members who are interested in contesting the seat on a Jubilee party ticket to forward their applications to National elections board,” said Tuju.
Other Jubilee aspirants who had been listed in the fake letter are Morris Peter Kinyanjui, Walter Trenk, Said Ibrahim and Doreen Wasike.
Kinyanjui was a Kibra MP aspirant in 2017 while Ibrahim was the TNA candidate in 2013. Trenk ran for senator under UDP and took the IEBC to court in 2017 for refusing to take his nomination papers. His case was dismissed as an abuse of the court process.
Doreen Wasike was chosen as the Jubilee candidate for Kibra in 2017.
The Kibra by-election is scheduled for November 7.
