Peter Kenneth formally resigns as KNC party leader as he eyes Kidero’s seat

Dennis Tarus

November 18, 2016 9:13 AM

Last week, Kenneth wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties, Lucy Ndung’u, tendering his resignation as a member of KNC.

Former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth has formally resigned as party leader of the Kenya National Congress (KNC) as he sets his eyes on the Nairobi gubernatorial seat.

In the letter, Kenneth requested that his name be struck off the party’s register.

On Thursday, the Registrar confirmed she had received Kenneth’s letter.

“The letter is very clear and straight forward. The seven days to consider the letter has elapsed and we have effected it,” Ndung’u said.

Kenneth has been under pressure by a section of leaders to fold up his party and join the Jubilee Party after he declared support for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 2017 re-election bid.

However, Kenneth responded to the demands by saying he did not own any party.

“I have no party to fold. I am just a member of KNC and I have submitted my resignation to the Registrar of Political Parties, after which I will be joining JP as a member,” Kenneth said last week.

"Kidero has failed"

The resignation sets the stage for the control of Nairobi after Kenneth publicly said that Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero had failed in his duties as governor.

Speaking at a church service in Aipca church Dandora last week, Kenneth said that the way he had seen Nairobi being run, anyone could do better than Kidero.

“Kidero is my friend, but he has failed Nairobians. We will seat down and in a week’s time make an informed decision on which seat to go for,” Kenneth said.

However, his likely entry into Nairobi politics has unsettled several Nairobi gubernatorial aspirants who are seeking to run on a Jubilee Party ticket.

The aspirants seemed to have forged an unlikely alliance in a bid to lock out Kenneth whom they perceive as an outsider.

In a meeting held on Monday, Senator Mike Sonko, nominated MP Johnson Sakaja, Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru and Bishop Margaret Wanjiru claimed that the next Nairobi Governor would emerge from one of them.

Dennis Tarus