Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi on Sunday officially kicked off campaigns to retain his seat days after he agreed to abandon his first stab at the Nairobi Governor’s seat.
It was while addressing ODM grassroots leaders in Westlands Constituency on Sunday, May 1, when the second term legislator revealed why he dropped his bid to be the next governor of the City-County of Nairobi.
Tim said he agreed not to run for the top county seat because his party leader Raila Odinga had been cleared to run for President under the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance.
Under the agreement, he said, it had been decided that ODM takes the Presidency while the Jubilee Party of President Uhuru Kenyatta takes the Nairobi Governor’s seat.
“Because of the arrangement of parties to work together, it comes along with its challenges. And it is due to those challenges that it was agreed that because ODM had been given the presidency, we had to relinquish the Nairobi Governor’s seat for Jubilee,” he said.
He assured the leaders and residents who had gathered at the CDF office grounds that he was firmly in ODM and the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance and supports its two principals– President Uhuru and Odinga.
Mr Wanyonyi announced that he had officially “come back home” to continue serving them for the third and final term.
“I have returned home and I have said we must sit down together and plan how we are going to move forward,” he said.
He preached unity during campaigns and urged the residents to support the ODM party and Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance.
The soft-spoken MP said that he respects and obeys the counsel of Mr Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta and that he will support their stand and that he will vigorously campaign for candidates in Nairobi.
He urged the charged crowd and politicians who participated in the hotly contested party nominations for Westland’s MP seat to calm down as emerging thorny issues are being addressed.
He urged his supporters to calm down and accept the decision of the party and throw their weight behind Raila for the presidency.
“I know there are those who are very angry about what happened recently but now I want to calm you down and tell you that I accepted the decision of our leaders because I held talks with President Uhuru and the 5th Raila Odinga and they assured me that our journey will continue but I put it on hold for a while,” he explained.
On his part, Mike Gumo, who had majority votes in the ODM primaries for Westlands, said that he and Wanyonyi both suffered but it was a decision from the top.
“Mimi na Tim hatuwezi kosana. My fight is with ODM. Ignore media reports saying otherwise,” Mr Gumo said.
Mr Wanyonyi urged ODM members to revitalise the party and show that Westlands is the home of the party.
“I have told baba that he gives me the chance to manage Nairobi affairs. We must start to plan ourselves this early. This will be my very last term as Westlands and will hand over to young turks like Mike Gumo and Alvin Palapala,” Wanyonyi said.
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