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Equity Bank Kenya Managing Director Polycarp Igathe has revealed the late businessman Chris Kirubi’s hand in the takeover of Nairobi County Government by the National Government in 2020.
Speaking during Kirubi’s requiem mass at Faith Evanglistic Ministries church in Karen, Igathe said it was Kirubi’s dream to restore order in the management of the city.
Kirubi’s interest in the city politics started when he designed the Igathe-Sonko ticket which trumped former governor Evans Kidero in 2017.
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Kirubi’s vision for Nairobi was to make it a city where it would be easy to do business but that plan ran into headwinds after Sonko and Igathe fell out.
“It was Kirubi who designed the Sonko Igathe ticket and we were very glad with that design and he gave me the plan to execute and we did not fail. However, that mission did not succeed as it was intended but Kirubi was unique in his thinking,” Igathe explained.
After it became difficult for the former governor to work with Kirubi’s blue eyed boy, he resigned and Kirubi engineered the takeover plan by the National Government. “Chris Kirubi was a genius by birth,” the Equity MD noted.
“When it was impossible to do business in Nairobi, it was Chris who came up with the idea of making sure that Nairobi goes back to the National Government politically,” Igathe revealed.
It now appears President Uhuru Kenyatta who has also admitted to have been behind the takeover was also influenced by the late businessman.
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Critical functions of the governor’s office would then be transferred to newly created Nairobi Metropolitan Services in 2020 under Major General Mohamed Badi.
Sonko Igathe fallout
When Sonko revealed Igathe as his running mate, many saw him as the technocrat who would act as administrator and manager while Sonko remained the political face of the county.
In mid-December 2017, rumors went around that the two were not seeing eye to eye but Sonko was quick to pour water on the claims.
"I'm in very good books with my Deputy Polycarp Igathe," Sonko stated before posting screenshots of conversations between them as evidence of their regular communication.
However, just a month later, Igathe would surprise the whole nation with his abrupt resignation, citing failure to earn the trust of his boss.