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Raila secures his ‘bedroom’ from DP Ruto as Imran beats Mariga in Kibra


Raila Odinga has managed to secure his ‘bedroom after his ODM candidate Bernard Imran Okoth trounced 23 other candidates for the party to to retain the Kibra parliamentary seat in a hotly contested by-election on Thursday.

Okoth, who now succeeds his late brother Ken Okoth, emerged victorious with 24,636 votes, ahead of Jubilee Party’s McDonald Mariga who managed 11, 230 votes, according to official results released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Friday morning.

Eliud Owalo, who vied on Musalia Mudavadi’s ANC came a distant third with 5,275 votes.

The by-election was seen largely as a contest of sorts between political nemeses Deputy President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who vowed not to lose the seat in the constituency he termed as his bedroom.

It was seen as a mini referendum on the politics of the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila and the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) it birthed.

During the campaigns, key Jubilee Party leaders ditched their candidate and campaigned for the ODM candidate Imran backed by leaders from other parties.

Among those who campaigned for the ODM candidate is Murang’a governor Anne Waiguru of Jubilee, Nominated MP Maina Kamanda, Machakos governor Alfred Mutua and his Makueni counterpart Kivutha Kibwana.

Key city Jubilee leaders including Governor Mike Sonko and Senator Johnson Sakaja strangely stayed away from the campaigns, a move widely seen as effects of the wide rifts within the Uhuru-led party ahead of the 2022 election.