Jubilee Party has confirmed that Kenya’s international football star McDonald Mariga as its candidate for the Kibra by-election.
After days of speculation, Mariga finally submitted his credentials at Jubilee Party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi.
“I am not a project of anyone and I will support whoever wins since I was born and raised in Kibra,” Mariga told journalists outside the party offices.
A list containing his name and four other candidates was forwarded to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) last week, but later withdrawn after-party secretary-general Raphael Tuju disowned it.
However, Jubilee election’s board chairman Nick Bore said that he had indeed forwarded the letter to IEBC.
“The board, upon receiving the names of the interested candidates, forwarded the same to the IEBC. I don’t understand where this conflicting information is coming from,” Bore said on phone.
Mariga joins Eliud Owalo on the list of confirmed candidates who will battle it out to replace the late Ken OKoth as Kibra MP on November 7.
Owalo, a former Raila Odinga strategist, was unveiled last week by Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress for.
