Businessman and political wheeler-dealer Jimi Wanjigi has maintained he will run for the presidency in the August polls.
In an interview with the Nation, Wanjigi also spoke about his relationship with Uhuru and Raila, his ODM membership, One Kenya Alliance, and more.
Here are some interview excerpts;
You have been a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, having supported their presidential candidacies in 2013 and 2017 respectively, what really changed?
Both are friends. There is nothing personal we disagree on. For 60 years Kenya has gone through both economic and human deprivation and it stops now! Our country cannot continue to be held political hostage by a hegemony of two families!
One Kenya Alliance, led by Kalonzo Musyoka, Gideon Moi, Cyrus Jirongo and Martha Karua, is seen as the possible third force, do you support its ideologies?
One Kenya are my friends. I am in ODM and espouse the ideology of ODM, although I must add that the written philosophy is not being practised of late.
You are a member of ODM, how are you going to push for a third force while the party is in a different formation? Do you intend to defect from ODM?
Should ODM continue its non-democratic and un-accommodative stand, ODM will lose a lot of followers, not just me.
ODM has convened a National Delegates Convention (NDC) to be held on February 25 and 26 at Nyayo stadium, where Mr Odinga is expected to be endorsed as the presidential flagbearer, will you attend the event and subscribe to the resolutions?
How is RAO (Raila Amollo Odinga) going to be ODM’s preferred candidate? What process has been followed in the party constitution to bestow that title on him? Any sham democracy will have serious consequences at the ballot.
If the third horse leads to a run-off, which formation between Azimio and Kenya Kwanza would you go for?
I will join up with like-minded Kenyans that wish to see real change, not cosmetic change and musical chairs.
Various opinion polls have put Mr Odinga and Dr Ruto ahead of the other aspirants. Whom, between the two, would you support?
The current characterisation of the two forces is unfounded. UhuRuto 2013 morphed into Jubilee in 2017, now Azimio and UDA in 2022. It’s the same plague we are dealing with! My wish with like-minded Kenyans is to create the real-change horse demanded and necessary for these times. A majority of voters today are undecided, even after campaigns by the one horse for over four years, under banners like hustler and BBI (Building Bridges Initiative).
You have been accused of working for Dr Ruto by pushing Mr Musyoka to the ballot. Do you think your recent arrest had a connection to this perception?
I represent seismic change! This is a rigged system against the length and breadth of Kenyan society. I’m not offering to work with the system, mine is seismic change, change that scares the system proprietors! I’m certain the attacks on me every election period have to do with this fear. We shall not relent. We shall be on the presidential ballot this year.
