Hours after the announcement of Mike Sonko as the Nairobi gubernatorial Jubilee aspirant, the incumbent Evans Kidero has send him a message.

In a rejoinder, Kidero, who was handed a direct ticket by the Raila Odinga led ODM party to defend his Nairobi seat, has exuded confidence that he will beat Sonko in the August 8 polls.

Sonko who garnered 138,185 votes, trouncing his fierce rival Peter Kenneth (who got 62,504) in the just concluded Jubilee primaries on Thursday, will now face Kidero in the general elections.

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“I am not surprised. I knew Sonko was going to be my competitor. So, I am not worried and Nairobians will prove that in August,” Kidero has said.

Flouting of his development projects in the city, Kidero has said that Nairobi residents will re-elect him based on his development record.

“Our level of preparedness is not determined by who our competitor is. It is determined by the urban integrated development plan that we have developed,” he said.

“It is based on Human Resource management plans that we have put in place and Solid waste management plan that we have developed with JICA,” said the city boss.

On the other hand, ODM leader Raila Odinga’s former aide Miguna Miguna is also in the race for the city governor seat as an independent candidate.

Kidero has been criticised by a section of the residents and competitors of failing to deliver the pledges he made to the city dwellers in 2013.

Kidero’s critics have cited traffic jam, dirty city, hawkers menace and streets families who have flooded the CBD as some of the areas he has failed to address.