Musician Kevin ‘Bahati’ Kioko has been listed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to contest for Mathare Constituency Parliamentary seat.
Bahati’s name was on Sunday gazetted by IEBC in the line-up of candidates set to be on the ballot in the August general election.
The youthful artist cum politician will be vying for the particular position on a Jubilee Party ticket despite being asked to step down in favour of an ODM candidate.
Bahati blamed ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and former Nairobi City County Woman Representative Rachael Shebesh for his stumbling blocks in Mathare politics.
Taking to his Twitter page, the singer wrote; “It official that on the 9th of august 2022…. I will be on the ballot as the next member of parliament mathare constituency under the #Jubilee_Azimio ticket!!! Asante Yesu, pokea sifa Mungu.”
Bahati earlier on claimed that ODM’s candidate in Mathare Constituency and the incumbent Anthony Oluoch is being favoured in the particular race.
He further claimed he was offered Ksh.50 million to drop his bid in favour of Oluoch.
“He told me to do a campaign song for him and support him. They want to use a person from Mathare to get to the people,” said on Radio Citizen.
Bahati will be contesting against ODM’s Anthony Oluoch, Usawa Party’s Moses Gachira, Jacob Karanja (Independent), Reuben Liyala of The Labour Party and James Madafu of ANC.
Meanwhile, IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati made real his threats of locking out aspirants with pending court cases in the August polls.
Former Nairobi City County Governor Gideon ‘Sonko’ Mbuvi’s name is missing in the IEBC’s list of cleared aspirants ahead of the beckoning general election.
Sonko is seeking to run for Mombasa governorship seat but his integrity case is still undecided.
